Occasion Heralds Season of Change

WILLIAMSBURG, Jan. 14 -- Timothy M. Kaine's wet and windswept inauguration Saturday marked not only the advent of his Democratic administration, but also a year of political movement that could fundamentally change the region's political landscape.

Virginia's quadrennial changing of the guard is as constant as a heartbeat -- it's the only state that doesn't allow its governor a second consecutive term -- and a year ahead of everybody else. But by the end of the 2006 political season, the District will have a new mayor, Montgomery County will have a new executive and Maryland a new U.S. senator -- and there are enough competitive campaigns to result in possible upheavals from council chambers to the governor's office.

"It's very much a turning of the region's leadership," said David Robertson, executive director of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, a coordinating group for the region's elected officials.

The consequences of the elections will not only be felt in each jurisdiction, but will also determine how the region moves forward on such issues as transportation, the Metro system, growth and sprawl, and environmental protection, particularly for the Chesapeake Bay system.

Every election season brings some changes -- "You never get everyone in alignment," Robertson said -- but this year could be particularly dramatic.

"There is an unsettlement going on around the region," said Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.). The region will lose its longest-serving elected federal official when Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes (D-Md.) retires after six terms, and it will also lose its longest-serving local executive because of Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan's run for governor. He has led the region's second-largest jurisdiction for an unprecedented 12 years.

Mayor Anthony A. Williams's (D) decision to exit after two terms ends a period of relative stability for the D.C. government, and change will come to the council as well, as three of its members are in the race to succeed him.

Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) faces a challenger from within his party as he seeks a second term, but the most dramatic change could come in Annapolis, with Duncan and Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley (D) competing for the chance to take on Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R). The former congressman broke decades of Democratic dominance in Maryland but is now considered one of the election season's most endangered Republicans.

With intraparty challenges and a pending reelection decision by longtime Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr., the end of the year could see all three of the statewide offices held by residents of the Washington suburbs -- or, just as likely, none at all.

There are also no Northern Virginians among the three officers sworn in Saturday in Williamsburg, but no one was predicting that the replacement of Alexandrian Mark R. Warner by Kaine, a former Richmond mayor, will mean much change in official policy toward the D.C. suburbs.

"Kaine can feel rightfully that he owes his margin [of victory] to Northern Virginia," said Davis, whose own district and the rest of the region went overwhelmingly for the Democrat.

Robertson and Davis both noted that Kaine has made a top priority working toward a solution to the state's transportation problems, which are felt more heavily in the Washington suburbs than anywhere else in the state.

Kaine's inauguration and address were an interesting example of the de facto political power sharing that has become commonplace in Virginia but has not taken root in Maryland. The commonwealth is a conservative place, comfortable with Republicans in the federal offices -- it hasn't supported a Democratic presidential candidate since Lyndon B. Johnson -- yet perfectly content with Democrats in the governor's mansion. Since the state started electing governors in 1852, only five have been Republicans. One of those had already served one term as a Democrat, and another is Kaine's father-in-law, A. Linwood Holton Jr.

For those who believe Kaine will be more liberal in office than Warner, there were few clues in his speech.

On the progressive side, he followed Warner's recent lead and made his first act signing a resolution that protects gay state workers from discrimination and made a nod to diversity by speaking in Spanish during his speech ("As governor, I will be fair and inclusive of all communities with the certainty that together we can achieve a better future in Virginia," was the translation provided by his office.)

But he also reached out to Republicans with an acknowledgment that "cooperation and compromise are necessary for progress," and he went beyond even Warner's bipartisan tendencies to promise a "nonpartisan Virginia agenda that includes all."

He pledged to "the taxpayers of Virginia" that "we will always remember that what government spends is not its money. It's your money." That was Republican-sounding enough for former GOP governors James S. Gilmore III and George Allen to turn to each other in the stands behind Kaine and share a comment and a laugh.

With a steady rain falling and a cold, raw wind arriving, Kaine raced through his speech while the crowd shivered behind him. Kaine saw a sign for all politicians.

"The weather is to remind us not to take ourselves too seriously," he said.