Repeat of GOP's 2004 Deadlock Break Seen as Unlikely in Governor's Transportation Campaign
By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
RICHMOND, March 14 -- Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) has little chance of breaking the General Assembly's stalemate over transportation by persuading enough House Republicans to defy their leadership and raise taxes, lawmakers in both parties and longtime lobbyists say.
Instead, Kaine will try to get the chamber's Republican leaders to help break the deadlock by finding a way for them to win, too. It's a task that is sure to be a challenge for the new governor, following the acrimonious end Saturday to the regular legislative session.
A deadlock similar to the one confronting Virginia's budget negotiators as they return to the capital Wednesday was resolved in 2004 when 17 House Republicans agreed with then-Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) to raise some taxes and lower others.
But Kaine's proposal for another tax increase, this time for transportation, faces an even more aggressive Republican leadership whose philosophical opposition to higher taxes is reinforced by its determination to avoid another loss to a Democratic governor.
"We would have a budget today if, like the House, Governor Kaine and the Senate had introduced budgets based on existing revenue, not on massive tax increases," House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) said as the legislature adjourned. "Our caucus has come together as a team -- showing a solidarity of purpose with an agreed-upon, steadfast resolve. This team is, and will remain, unified."
That boast is backed by significant events that observers of both budget fights say makes another GOP defection in the House highly unlikely.
Many of the 17 mavericks told constituents that their tax vote was a once-in-a-lifetime event. And there were consequences for some who voted for higher taxes in 2004: Several lost positions on commissions; one was dropped from a key committee; a half-dozen faced well-financed primary campaigns; and one recently was yanked from the board of visitors at the College of William and Mary.
In addition, Howell engineered rule changes this year that allow him far greater latitude to punish GOP members who stray.
"It's not going to happen," Sen. Charles J. Colgan (D-Prince William), a key Senate negotiator, said of the idea that delegates would break ranks. "I think the House is going to . . . keep a tight rein on the members so it can't happen."
The House Republican caucus is also convinced that giving in to Kaine and the Senate will mean yet another tax battle two years from now. At a news conference, Transportation Committee Chairman Leo C. Wardrup Jr. (R-Virginia Beach) said the House must stand firm. "The stage is set, Mr. Speaker, for these things to happen every single year," Wardrup said. "The time to nip it is right now."
With the legislature unable to agree during the state's 60-day session, Kaine on Saturday told lawmakers to return for a special session starting March 27.
In the meantime, the same 11 negotiators who two years ago harrumphed, bickered, yelled, rolled their eyes and traded insults with each other will try again to overcome their personal and philosophical differences on behalf of a budget compromise.
"I'll be down there. I don't know what we'll accomplish," said House Appropriations Chairman Vincent F. Callahan Jr. (R-Fairfax), who leads the House team.
Senators back a budget that includes adding more than $1 billion a year for transportation projects by raising taxes and fees. The House version of the budget would allocate about $350 million in continuing revenue for roads, bridges and transit.
Callahan said the budget conferees will gather at 11 a.m. in the legislative office building to find ways to reconcile their differences.
In the end, though, the solution to Virginia's 2006 budget problems may emerge outside the conference room, as it did -- eventually -- in 2004. Warner worked with delegates and senators who were not part of the budget negotiations.
In the House, then-Del. L. Preston Bryant Jr. (R-Lynchburg) and Del. S. Chris Jones (R-Suffolk) joined some of Warner's top aides to persuade 17 GOP delegates to vote for a tax increase. Bryant is now Kaine's secretary of natural resources.
In the Senate, Thomas K. Norment Jr. (R-James City) and Kenneth W. Stolle (R-Virginia Beach) -- both senior Republicans, but neither a budget negotiator -- worked to sell the Bryant-Jones plan to senators who initially believed it didn't raise enough money.
On May 7 of that year, lawmakers finally ratified the deal they hammered out.
In an interview for a Harvard University case study on the contentious battle, Senate Finance Chairman John H. Chichester (R-Northumberland) gave Warner credit for finding a way around the deadlocked negotiators.
"He would take those members to his office and sit down with them and work through their concerns and ideas -- and keep at it until he had the number of bodies he needed," Chichester said. "I was already wearing the horns and a forked tongue for even proposing this thing, so my credibility with the newer breed of Republicans was gone. . . . [But the governor] could command the stage."
Now, the question is whether Kaine can find a way to bring the House and Senate together on a plan for transportation improvements.
Kaine left Sunday for a surprise week-long trip to visit troops from Virginia in Iraq and Afghanistan. But before he left, he promised to wage a robust public campaign on behalf of his plan.
"I'm going to [talk] to Virginians about why transportation is the most urgent priority in the state," Kaine told reporters.
Staff writer Rosalind S. Helderman contributed to this report.
View all comments that have been posted about this article.