Some Republicans in the House of Delegates are angry McDonnell vetoed the bill they had been working on for months, leaving them in a precarious situation that may force the courts to intervene in the state’s redistricting process or delay the August primary.
“I was surprised and disappointed,’’ said Del. R. Steven Landes (R-Augusta), who said he called McDonnell to complain. “It puts the elections in real turmoil.”
House and Senate leaders do not have enough votes to override the veto, which means legislators must return to Richmond and start on a new redistricting bill.
House leaders, including Howell and Majority Leader M. Kirkland Cox (R-Colonial Heights), met with McDonnell on Friday to urge him to sign the next bill. The General Assembly reconvenes at the Capitol on Monday.
House Deputy Majority Leader C. Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) said some members are angry and others frustrated that McDonnell vetoed the bill, instead of amending it, even though his problems were primarily with how the Democratic-led Senate drew its districts. “Lots of members are eager to understand what will satisfy the governor,’’ Gilbert said. “Members want to know where this leaves us in the process.”
In interviews, more than a dozen Republican delegates expressed outrage, annoyance and disappointment with McDonnell’s actions. But most of all, they voiced concern that the veto would drag out redistricting for months or leave judges to draw districts for the first time in recent Virginia history.
After eight years of Democrats in the governor’s mansion, House Republicans were eager for the election of one of their own — a former delegate who would restore some of the state’s right-leaning policies and traditions. But in recent months, McDonnell’s style and his attempt to appeal to the center have left some delegates disgruntled.
They have faulted him for mismanaging one of his top legislative priorities — a plan to privatize the state’s liquor stores — which drew opposition even from members of his own party. They bristled at what they saw as meddling — his vetoing of four bills and amending of 134 measures, including 86 amendments to the state’s budget. They opposed his creation of a bipartisan advisory commission on redistricting, whose advice the General Assembly did not heed.
Some House Republicans upset about the redistricting veto have complained directly to McDonnell and Bolling, McDonnell’s closest political ally, who presides over the state Senate and had repeatedly called on the governor to replace the legislative-drawn maps with those drawn up by the advisory commission.
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