ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 7, 1995 TAG: 9512070070
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: ROBERT LITTLE STAFF WRITER
Democrats in the state Senate elected a successor to Hunter Andrews Wednesday, naming as their leader a Fairfax legislator with his own reputation for confrontational politics.
Sen. Richard Saslaw, a 55-year-old gas station owner from Annandale, was named party leader during a 90-minute closed meeting of Senate Democrats. Saslaw will take over when legislators open the 1996 General Assembly Jan. 10.
As leader of the party in power in the Senate, Saslaw will preside over the chamber's daily schedule and serve as chief spokesman and deal-maker for Senate Democrats. Andrews, an august though often domineering leader, lost his seat during last month's election, part of a Republican surge that leaves the new Senate with a 20-20 partisan tie.
"Nobody will ever fill those shoes," Saslaw said. Will he will seek Andrews' advice throughout the session? "I'm going to call as often as he'll take my calls," Saslaw said.
Party members sounded conciliatory in announcing Saslaw's election, which ended a four-way internal tussle for the post. But they also made clear they consider Saslaw the Senate's majority leader, a title disputed by Republicans who now claim half the seats in the chamber.
That claim indicated that a potential partisan showdown could be brewing in a lawmaking body where Democrats hold only a tenuous majority. Republicans are demanding some system of shared leadership in the Senate, even though Lt. Gov. Don Beyer, a Democrat, has the power to break ties. They are expected to name their own leader Tuesday.
Conservative Sen. Virgil Goode, D-Rocky Mount, the chamber's most Republican-friendly Democrat, continued to fuel speculation that he might thwart the party's majority . Goode, who has rejected suggestions that he might switch parties, unexpectedly skipped Wednesday's meeting. He could not be reached for comment.
In Saslaw, Democrats selected a hardened 16-year Senate veteran with a taste for conflict.
Beyer offered praise to a host of Democratic leaders after Wednesday's meeting. When time came to extol Saslaw, he simply chuckled.
"Well," Beyer said, "I believe that you can fight and be a healer at the same time."
In that sense, Saslaw could mimic the style of Andrews. His obstinacy and fiery rhetoric have branded him a mischief-maker of sorts. Asked to characterize his style, Saslaw responded: "Dickie Cranwell light," a reference to the tigerish Majority Leader in the House of Delegates.
But Andrews had claim to virtually all the top leadership positions in the Senate. Saslaw will neither serve as head of the powerful Finance committee, as Andrews did, nor bring to the job three decades of expertise about the state budget and Virginia politics.
At an amicable meeting to announce Saslaw's election, Senate Democrats talked of creating a new power-sharing arrangement within the party.
Saslaw denied that the new arrangement would dilute the power typically bestowed a majority leader, though he predicted "things will certainly be much different."
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Senate Democratic leader Richard Saslaw (left) talksby CNBto the press along with (from left) Sens. Charles Waddell of
Leesburg, Evonne Miller of Norfolk and Joseph Gartlan Jr. of
Fairfax. (ran in New River edition.)