RICHMOND, Nov. 30 -- Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) on Tuesday urged state lawmakers to again consider eliminating the term limit for Virginia's chief executives, a change he said would make state government more efficient.
Warner said four years is not enough time to complete a program that improves government performance. During his monthly broadcast on WTOP radio, he urged lawmakers to take up the issue when they return to the capital for the General Assembly session that begins Jan. 12.
Gov. Mark R. Warner said "trying to make changes . . . takes time" -- more than four years.
(Brady Wolfe -- AP)
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"The nature of being a chief executive, when you're trying to make changes . . . takes time," Warner said. Highlighting his attempts to alter how the state awards contracts, uses technology and buys property, he added: "There are a number of things we've started that we're not going to be able to finish in four years -- particularly the things in regard to how the state operates."
Virginia is the only state that does not allow its governors to succeed themselves. To change the system, two separately elected General Assemblies would have to approve a constitutional amendment. The state's voters then would have to pass the amendment in a referendum. Any change would not affect Warner, who leaves office in January 2006.
Warner's comments were part of the renewed debate on a subject that has been discussed in Virginia for many years. Proponents of the change, including Warner, have failed to win enough support from legislators to change the law, despite backing from former governors and many business leaders. On Nov. 15, former governor James S. Gilmore III (R) told a legislative panel that Virginia's term limit hampers government planning.
The panel, composed of legislators and private citizens, was created by the General Assembly to study Virginia's system and recommend how it might be changed.
Opponents -- including many lawmakers -- have raised concerns that allowing a governor to serve two terms would reduce the power of the legislature. They say Virginia governors have a great deal more power than lawmakers because a governor can appoint members of commissions, such as the Commonwealth Transportation Board and the Board of Visitors, without legislative approval.
Still others say that Virginia's part-time General Assembly, with its relatively short sessions, also keeps lawmakers at a disadvantage.
"Just because everybody else does it doesn't mean that we should," said House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith (R-Salem). "There needs to be a counterbalance" to the executive's power.
Warner cited a University North Carolina study that rated the Virginia chief executive's power 26th in the nation, based on ability to make appointments and limited terms.
Warner's press secretary, Ellen Qualls, said that only one of every four boards that the governor appoints has the power to enter into contracts and make significant expenditures.
Just one chief executive in Virginia's history, Mills E. Godwin Jr., has been elected to more than one term. He was elected to two separate terms during the 1960s and 1970s, first as a Democrat and later as a Republican.
"There are good arguments on both sides, but ultimately I think the state needs to figure out whether the current system is good for government procedures," said Mark J. Rozell, a government professor at George Mason University who has written extensively about Virginia politics.
