THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 26, 1996 TAG: 9602260045
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: General Assembly
SOURCE: BY MARGARET EDDS, STEPHANIE STOUGHTON AND DAVID M. POOLE, STAFF
WRITERS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
An abstention enables state lawmakers to avoid conflicts of interest.
But Del. Lionell Spruill, D-Chesapeake, has found that abstentions serve another useful purpose: getting out of sticky political jams.
Earlier this month, Spruill abstained on a key vote during a debate on requiring physicians to notify parents of unmarried, underage girls seeking abortions.
Spruill later explained that the vote put him at odds with the Legislative Black Caucus; he supported closing a notification loophole, while the caucus opposed the amendment.
``I had no problem in voting for the amendment, but I didn't want to vote against the caucus,'' he said.
Last week, Spruill abstained on a bill that would require employers to pay unemployment benefits to workers locked out during labor disputes.
Spruill is a card-carrying union member - a Communications Workers of America banner hangs in his office in the General Assembly building. But Spruill thought the particular bill went too far.
``I didn't want to vote against labor, so I abstained,'' he explained.
No stranger to education
If lawyering is the No. 1 occupation for members of the Virginia General Assembly, teaching must be the top job for spouses.
As Democrats and Republicans offered alternative plans for raising teacher pay last week, lawmakers scrambled to outdo each other in establishing their classroom credentials. Delegate after delegate mentioned that a wife, a mother, a daughter or a third-cousin-twice-removed taught school.
Del. Robert Tata, R-Virginia Beach, may have topped the group, however. At a GOP press conference, Tata mentioned that he spent 30 years working in public schools before his retirement; his wife taught for 39. His daughter, a teacher at Kempsville High, has taught for a decade. And his two sons have both taught classes linked to their professions.
Democrats often win the pro-education, public-relations battle, Tata acknowledged, but ``we are not strangers to education.'' Dollars and downsizing
Plans by the House budget committee to eliminate $450,000 for monitoring federal defense downsizing drew the ire of Del. Robert McDonnell, R-Virginia Beach, last week.
``We're closing this office in the middle of the battle,'' warned McDonnell as the House debated the $34.6 billion budget.
The delegate credited the Base Retention and Defense Adjustment Commission - and the state office that supports it - with protecting Oceana Naval Air Station during the federal defense closing battle. The BRDA office has two full-time employees and a part-time receptionist whose jobs would be eliminated under the House plan.
Now, McDonnell said, the office is working in communities facing closure or realignment, including the Norfolk Aviation Depot, Fort Pickett, and Fort Lee. Continued vigilance also is needed to protect the thousands of Virginians whose jobs are linked to the Department of Defense, he said.
Lawmakers struggling to come up with money for colleges, teacher raises, and a variety of other priories were not persuaded. They voted 64-33 to eliminate the funding,
The Senate's version of the budget bill eliminates funding for the BRDA office in the year beginning July 1997.
Rhodes Scholar honored
Samantha Salvia, a Rhodes Scholar from Old Dominion University, was recognized last Friday on the House and Senate floors.
Sen. Stanley C. Walker, D-Norfolk, praised Salvia for her academic excellence and her accomplishments in field hockey.
``She has earned a perfect 4.0,'' gushed Walker, as he nodded toward Salvia, 21, of Norristown, Pa. Salvia will graduate from the Norfolk school in the spring.
Salvia and Mark Embree, who attends Virginia Tech, will head for Oxford University in the fall.
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY by CNB