ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 10, 1996 TAG: 9601100136
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
THE 1996 GENERAL Assembly convenes today. Many expect it to be a kinder, gentler start than last year's.
Let's hope so; it wouldn't be hard. Partisan snarling a year ago resulted in the embarrassing Day One spectacle of Democrats' denying Republican Gov. George Allen the traditional privilege of giving a state-of-the-state address in the legislature's chambers.
But Allen has backed away from scorched-earth political rhetoric, after it failed in the November elections to produce GOP majorities in either the House of Delegates or the state Senate. The Democrats' Olympic-class rhetorical bomb-throwers say they're willing to make nice, too.
If civility makes for a relatively dull session, well, most Virginians probably would welcome it. You want fireworks? Stay tuned to D.C., where the pyrotechnics between the White House and Congress have descended to the level of government shutdowns.
Political civility once was prevalent in Virginia's genteel old capital. Of late, as Republicans have steadily moved closer to parity with the once-dominant Democrats, eager Republicans and threatened Democrats too often have taken to the kind of petty bickering that's of much interest only to themselves.
A prospective Senate cockfight could erupt today over the pecking order of a chamber with an equal number (20 each) of Democratic and Republican senators. The Republicans should keep in mind that Democratic Lt. Gov. Don Beyer gives the Democrats a majority, albeit tenuous, not by parliamentary trick but by constitutional provision. The Democrats should learn to more equitably share power and its perks with the Republicans.
The public, we suspect, would prefer Virginia's lawmakers to concentrate not on pecking-order disputes but on settling a backlog of issues of real importance.
Addressing the disparity in public-school funding remains a priority for many Southwest Virginians. Steps have been taken to improve the situation, but it has not been solved. Also needed: putting state support for higher education back on a progressive track.
While reform of the juvenile-justice system is getting a big push from the governor, more welcome than tinkering with a system that kicks in only in the aftermath of crime would be finding ways to better prevent crime - juvenile or otherwise - before it occurs.
Those are only the first few items on a long list of deferred issues that the public has waited patiently for resolution. The key players - the governor, assembly Democrats, assembly Republicans - say they're ready to put political animus behind them, to get on with the work of the commonwealth. Soon, perhaps as early as today, we'll see whether they mean it - or whether it's just another Virginia snow job.
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996by CNB