THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 22, 1997 TAG: 9702220346
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 87 lines
The chance to fill a vacancy on Virginia's Supreme Court proved so politically tantalizing Friday that legislators pondered it all day, deferring the state budget and everything else on their schedule.
And when they were done, they came up with nothing.
After a nine-hour stalemate, the General Assembly gave up Friday night without filling the coveted slot on Virginia's highest court.
Lawmakers will start anew this morning, but most figure Friday's daylong impasse means Democrats and Republicans are locked in a perpetual standoff.
Several senators suggested they will gather this morning, agree to nominate no one, and adjourn for the year - leaving the appointment to Gov. George F. Allen.
``I think at this point it's pretty much done,'' said Spotsylvania Sen. Edward Houck, chairman of the senate's Democratic Caucus.
``It certainly looks that way,'' added Republican Sen. John H. Chichester of Stafford County.
The failure on Friday to select a Supreme Court justice did not come from lack of trying.
The House of Delegates, which is controlled by Democrats, chose Richmond district court Judge Margaret Spencer early in the day. But the Senate, equally divided between 20 Democrats and 20 Republicans, spent the next eight hours in partisan deadlock.
Nine times they voted on prospective judges, each time falling at least one vote short of the 21 needed for a successful election.
Senate Courts of Justice Committee Chairman Joseph V. Gartlan Jr. ran to the House with the names of so many prospective candidates that one delegate suggested he just use the phone book, and handed him one.
``We ought to get Gartlan a motor scooter,'' observed Chesapeake Sen. Frederick M. Quayle.
After the ninth vote, Pittsylvania Sen. Charles S. Hawkins asked if he had time to go to law school, get a degree, come back and take the job himself.
``You don't need a degree,'' said Richmond Sen. Benjamin J. Lambert. ``Right now, we'll take anyone.''
But they won't.
Lawmakers from both parties consider the seat on Virginia's Supreme Court one of their most coveted legislative appointments. The judge who fills the seat of retiring justice Roscoe B. Stephenson will join a panel that has cast some significant 4-3 decisions.
But the appointment is also the granddaddy of political patronage. Senators spent the day alternating from floor sessions to private huddles, contemplating scores of nominations and what other nominations that selection could trigger.
One idea, suggested early, was that Democrats select a judge on the Court of Appeals for the Supreme Court and let Republicans fill the resultant vacancy.
But the power split Republicans enjoy in the Senate allows them to veto any nomination if they stick together. Since the Republican governor fills the slot if no selection is made, the GOP opted for that route.
Several Democrats and Republicans blamed the House of Delegates for refusing to negotiate. The Senate, they said, was ready to compromise, but the House was rigid in its support of a Democrat.
If, in the end, Allen gets to make the appointment, legislators will have to certify his selection when they reconvene in January 1998.
The prospective candidates floated Friday touched every regional, political and ideological barrier that had muddled the selection process to begin with.
Spencer, an African-American district judge from Richmond, was first to fall. The former Republican legislator, Steven Agee of Salem, didn't even get nominated in the House of Delegates.
From there, senators suggested Appeals Court judges from Fairfax, Richmond, Fredericksburg and Portsmouth. Once it became obvious that every nomination would fail, they started nominating their own hometown long shots.
The sentiments evoked by the whole process, meanwhile, were equally broad and disparate.
``This is kind of a pointless game of political chicken, if you ask me,'' said Roanoke Del. Clifton A. ``Chip'' Woodrum, waiting outside the House of Delegates Friday for the Senate to reach an agreement.
``I'm one of the guys who's pleased about this,'' said Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle, a Virginia Beach Republican. ``This is the first time Republicans have had a say.''
``Our founding fathers figured this out, they knew we were human and sometimes we'd have to kick things up to the executive branch and cool off,'' offered Botetourt Sen. Malfourd W. ``Bo'' Trumbo, one of the Senate's peace negotiators.
``Maybe this is exactly how we're supposed to pick this judge. Now that's a bizarre thought.''
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY VACANCY JUSTICE JUDGESHIP
VIRGINIA SUPREME COURT