Senate Kills Bill to Ban Fundraising at Mansion
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This week's Notebook is a compilation of items from The Washington Post's "Virginia Politics" blog. To get your daily fix of Virginia politics, check out http:/
The Democrat-controlled Virginia Senate has failed to act on a bill that would have outlawed fundraising for political candidates and causes at the executive mansion, which is the oldest occupied governor's mansion in the United States.
Two weeks ago, the House unanimously approved a bill by Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith (R-Salem) that banned the solicitation of funds at the mansion for any purpose "other than for charity."
Griffith submitted the bill last month after the Farm Team, a political action committee formed to help Democratic women seek elected office, posted a solicitation on a liberal fundraising Web site seeking donations from $25 to $1,000 to attend a series of events in Richmond, including an event at the governor's mansion.
Officials at the Farm Team quickly acknowledged the solicitation was a mistake. They said they had never intended to raise money at the mansion.
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) also said he would never allow money to be raised for a political committee at the mansion. But Griffith pushed for the bill anyway, saying it was time to put into law the long-standing practice of governors refraining from fundraising at the mansion. Kaine supported the bill, but the Senate Rules Committee refused to act on it Friday.
In an interview, Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax) said an official ban was not needed.
"It had never come up before," Saslaw said of fundraising at the mansion. "In fact, I have been here 33 years, and that is the first time it has ever come up."
But House Republicans will probably use the Senate's decision as a political issue in the fall.
"Virginians rightly expect their elected leaders to continually seek out ways to run government in as ethical, efficient and effective manner as possible," said House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford). "House Republicans advanced a strong reform agenda this session that accomplished those goals. It is disappointing that partisan politics has led defenders of the status quo to reject the common-sense reforms championed by House Republicans."
