GOP's Compromise Now Democrats' Dilemma

Several participants said Howell was skeptical at first. But he has become the proposal's leading cheerleader. The massive legislation bears the speaker's name, a rare honor for any bill.

The Senate was a different story. Finance Chairman John H. Chichester (R-Northumberland) knew about the talks but made it clear early on that he did not like the direction they were going, according to several participants.

McDonnell and his top aide had visited Chichester on Dec. 11 in his 10th-floor General Assembly office, McDonnell said. The powerful senator opposed shifting money from other state services and programs to transportation. Chichester was not present for the deal's announcement and has since criticized the plan.

That has put the three senators in an awkward spot. For years, they and Chichester have been part of a tiny clique that virtually controls the Senate. Along with Sen. William C. Wampler Jr. (R-Bristol), they had become affectionately known as the Gang of Five.

Now, those relationships appear to be strained. Chichester is holding firm to his long-standing principles, while the three Senate negotiators have bowed to the election-year realities of getting a deal.

"If we couldn't solve transportation, I don't know if we deserve to be in the majority," Stolle said. "In Hampton Roads, I feel like we had a gun to our heads.

"Still do."

The Carping Begins

The breakthrough came, according to one participant, the Sunday night before the start of the legislative session Jan. 10.

With three days left, the group once again assembled at the Commonwealth Park at 4 p.m. It was then that they agreed to the basic outline of the plan: It should raise $500 million each year.

And, significantly, they decided to split the difference. Half would come from new fees that would be hard for the House to swallow. And half would come from the general fund, a jealously guarded Senate favorite from which other state services are financed.

Details soon began leaking out.

Commercial landowners got wind of an increased tax rate, and suddenly their lobbyists were bad-mouthing the still ephemeral plan. Conservative lawmakers who had taken no-new-tax pledges vowed never to vote for the plan. And Democrats geared up for a concerted attack on one of the plan's main provisions: the $250 million from the general fund.

"You know, $250 million is like the combined budget of the state police, all of the state's emergency management operations and all of our veterans services," Kaine told reporters Friday.

And before long, local government officials weighed in, urging caution because of concerns about hard-to-understand land-use provisions and a requirement that local elected officials vote to approve the tax and fee increases.

"If this will help us solve the problem, and [Republicans] benefit from it politically, they deserve it," Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) said. "But if it is in fact a whole bunch of silent bombs in the fine print, then the retribution will be swift and certain at the polls in Northern Virginia."

In the end, the compromise was born. Howell and the negotiators announced it in a committee room packed with reporters, TV cameras, lobbyists, administration officials and other lawmakers.

Whether it survives opposition from Chichester, the Democrats, local officials and anti-tax conservatives remains to be seen. The bills must make their way through committees in the House and Senate, get passed on the floor of each chamber and pass muster with the Democratic governor.

And it must all happen by the time the General Assembly adjourns Feb. 24.

"We've come a long way, and it shows what you can accomplish if you have people get down and discuss things with each other," Howell said at the news conference. "It's been an all-consuming effort for the three for the House and the three from the Senate. It's been a great team effort from both teams."