Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 26, 1992 TAG: 9202260248
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BONNIE V. WINSTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
WILDER TO RETHINK BOND PLAN
Unable to broker a compromise and unwilling himself to bend, Gov. Douglas Wilder said Tuesday that he will come up with a new strategy for getting a multimillion-dollar state building and borrowing program through a fractious General Assembly.Wilder said after a 50-minute private meeting with 12 top House and Senate Democrats that he may submit a new bond package by 6 p.m. today.
But aides later said the governor will release only a new strategy for pushing the state college, park and human services building plan through the legislature.
At two news conferences Tuesday, Wilder accused the Assembly's Democratic leadership of letting personality conflicts interfere with passage of his nearly $600 million bond plan.
"The ultimate question is why . . . those [bond] measures were used as the vehicles of fun and games," he said.
"The people could care less who gets the credit. They want to see something. They are ready to say, `A pox on both your houses. If this is the cream of the crop, then God help the milk.' "
Despite overwhelming support for some type of debt-financed construction, the House and Senate were left with no bond package Monday when the two chambers deadlocked over disparate plans. The bonds apparently were casualties of a power struggle between House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell of Vinton and his Senate counterpart, Hunter Andrews of Hampton.
Andrews carried Wilder's proposal, which was passed unanimously by the Senate. But the House defeated the bill, favoring Cranwell's proposal for an additional $500 million in debt to finance road-building and a half-cent increase in the state sales tax to repay it.
Cranwell's package also would have provided at least $100 million annually from the sales tax proceeds for additional state aid to poor school districts.
Andrews, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, let Cranwell's proposal die in that committee Monday without a vote as the deadline for action passed.
While the governor told reporters earlier in the day that he was "prepared to walk away from here with no bonds if that's what they [lawmakers] want," he said later that he was digging in for a fight.
Wilder said he would not accept a bond package that includes a tax increase, or one that links transportation or school aid money with capital projects. But he did not rule out signing a state gasoline tax increase to support road projects, provided it is separate from the construction bond package and has bipartisan support, he said.
Virginia Tech and other higher education institutions are concerned about the prospect of the General Assembly's abandoning a bill to borrow money for building projects, Virginia Tech President James McComas said Tuesday.
"Our governmental leaders understand the urgent need for capital projects funding, and we are hopeful they can find a solution agreeable to all parties," McComas said.
Staff writer Madelyn Rosenberg contributed information for this story.