THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 3, 1997 TAG: 9702030067
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVID M. POOLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 77 lines
Running on pure adrenalin, Dick Cranwell shuttles from room to room on the sixth floor of the General Assembly office building.
He's got the captains of industry huddling in his office. The union bosses holed up around the corner. And the insurance-company representatives cooling their heels across the hall.
``Now I know why the Israelis and the Arabs have so much trouble getting together,'' Cranwell quips, his voice oozing the coal-field drawl of his childhood.
On Sunday, Cranwell, who represents parts of Bedford, Botetourt, Craig and Roanoke counties in western Virginia, again demonstrated that he is the General Assembly's dealmeister extraordinaire. In dizzying negotiations conducted on three hours' sleep, the Democrat may have settled in one fell swoop three issues that had festered for years without resolution.
If the deal holds, Gov. George F. Allen would be able to take credit for reducing unemployment taxes. Labor unions would achieve their long-held goal of raising benefits for laid-off workers. And state courts would get new rules for deciding when workers deserve to be compensated for job-related hearing loss and other repetitive injuries.
``Dickie Cranwell is a miracle worker,'' said a labor lawyer who participated in the negotiations.
The House majority leader has the seniority, the smarts, the clout and the audacity to make his sixth-floor suite the gateway for just about every piece of major legislation the Assembly considers.
This is the time in the annual General Assembly session when Cranwell thrives. With his colleagues weary from trying to meet a Tuesday deadline for action on hundreds of bills, Cranwell has shifted into overdrive.
He labored at the House Courts of Justice Committee until nearly 4 a.m. Sunday.
He was back in his office before 8 a.m., wide-eyed and revved up to make peace among the warring factions of business, labor and trial attorneys.
Cranwell had brought all the parties to him by introducing a bill that combined two unrelated items - Allen's call for an unemployment tax break for businesses and workers' desire for compensation for the cumulative trauma of repetitive motions, such as pain suffered by some keyboard operators.
His gambit was to force Allen to accept a compromise on repetitive trauma in exchange for a tax break.
Sunday morning, Cranwell isolated the factions in different rooms, shuttling back and forth and pressing each side to give.
Allen officials - backed by industry groups - refused to budge unless Cranwell agreed to decouple the unemployment tax from the repetitive injury guidelines.
Cranwell eventually relented, losing a considerable amount of leverage. But he pressed forward, hoping to salvage an agreement.
Shortly before noon, he was ready to bring everyone together in his office. ``Let's get a deal,'' he exclaimed.
Under the deal, employers would save about $175 million in unemployment tax premiums over the next five years. That is less than the $199 million Allen sought, but the governor accepted the compromise.
``These adjustments will provide real relief to Virginia businesses,'' Allen said in statement.
In turn, labor unions secured a modest increase in unemployment benefits that are among the lowest and least accessible in the United States.
``Our standing in the nation is pathetic,'' said Danny LeBlanc, state AFL-CIO president. ``This bill goes a little toward correcting that.''
The most fragile part of the agreement would allow employees suffering from hearing loss and repetitive trauma to file Worker's Compensation claims, provided they could prove with ``clear and convincing'' evidence that the condition is work-related.
Allen refused to endorse the repetitive-trauma compromise, leaving open the threat of a veto.
Later in the evening, Cranwell refused to gloat over the deal he had shepherded through the House Finance Committee, which he chairs. He was plotting the next step in legislative chess game that won't end until Feb. 22. ILLUSTRATION: Dick Cranwell, the House majority leader, engineered a
deal Sunday on three hours' sleep.
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY INTERVIEW