THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 17, 1996 TAG: 9601170372
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVID M. POOLE AND ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITERS
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
Del. Leo C. Wardrup Jr. was handing out business cards to reporters like an insurance agent working a Rotary luncheon.
``Here,'' the Virginia Beach Republican smiled, pulling out a pen, ``let me give you my apartment number.''
The business cards were a novel way for the former naval officer to announce that he was ready to shed the anonymity of junior back-bencher.
Last Friday, Wardrup bashed Democrats at a hastily arranged news conference that marked his debut as chairman of the House Republican Caucus.
The ceremonial post is something of a coup for the feisty third-termer. He out-maneuvered veteran Republican Del. Vince F. Callahan Jr. of Fairfax County in a secret ballot election among the 47 House Republicans.
Wardrup, 59, plans to transform the ceremonial post into a more active and visible one. He intends to use the position to defend Republican members who get in a partisan jam on the House floor and to hold news conferences to get out the party's message.
He got off to a rousing start Friday, firing off quick bursts of outrage and indignation over the decision by House Speaker Thomas W. Moss Jr., D-Norfolk, to strip Republicans of two key budget committee assignments.
``I think this is simply another attempt to disenfranchise the voters of Virginia,'' he said, standing ramrod straight behind a podium in an empty Capitol meeting room.
He repeated that phrase to a steady stream of reporters, all of whom went away clutching one of his business cards.
Norfolk Sen. Stanley C. Walker, senior Democrat in the Senate and top guy on the Senate Finance Committee, said he was pleased. But his sullen posture betrayed a little disappointment.
After much wrangling, Democrats agreed last week that Walker will share chairmanship of the Senate's most powerful committee with senior Republican John H. Chichester of Fredericksburg.
In more normal times, Walker would have been the sole chairman. But a partisan tie - 20 Democrats and 20 Republicans - does not make for much normalcy in the Senate these days.
``We're personal friends and have worked together well a long time,'' was all Walker had to say.
Senators in both parties said one reason they expect the arrangement to work is that Walker and Chichester are both good-natured enough to pull it off.
They expect a little resentment between the parties at first. But they also expect success.
``The tension will linger for a while, I'm sure,'' said Chichester. ``But then people will become distracted, mercifully, by their own legislation, and the job we're here to do will become the important thing again.''
What's in a name?
Just ask Norfolk Del. William P. Robinson Jr., who last week was tapped as chairman of the freshly renamed House Transportation Committee.
For a century, the panel had been known as the Roads and Internal Navigation Committee. The House changed the name to take into account modern inventions such as mass transit and express rail.
Minutes before the House of Delegates was to vote on a procedural resolution changing the name, House Majority Leader C. Richard Cranwell of Vinton couldn't help giving Robinson a hard time.
``We're changing the name to the Committee on Alleys and Dirt Roads,'' Cranwell told Robinson, whose reply was lost in the laughter on the House floor.
An hour or so after the Senate adjourned Friday, Chesapeake Sen. Mark L. Earley was in his office trying to get things ready to leave for the weekend. But suddenly, he had more to do than normal.
As part of the Senate's new bipartisan organization plan, the third-term senator will take over as chairman of the Local Government Committee, which approves all laws that affect local laws.
After eight years in the minority party, he hadn't given much thought to the specifics of being in power.
The phone rang. It was someone who works for his new committee.
``They want me to go meet everyone,'' Earley said. ``Things have really changed. I have to remember that now I have a staff.''
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