ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 30, 1996 TAG: 9601300096
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
SO MUCH FOR A QUIET General Assembly session. On Monday, Democrats and Republicans duked it out over what constitutes misleading rhetoric.
Partisanship reared its head in the House of Delegates on Monday as lawmakers debated committee assignments and misleading campaign rhetoric.
The House devoted 90 minutes - its longest debate this year - to legislation encouraging Fairfax County to reactivate its "fair campaign practices commission."
Democrats said the Fairfax commission, if successful, could prove a statewide model for holding candidates accountable when they sling distorted and misleading charges.
But some Fairfax Republicans replied the revamped commission would be no more effective than a similar panel in the late 1970s, which they called a partisan weapon wielded by Democrats.
"It has not worked, and I don't think it will work in the future," said Del. James O'Brien, R-Fairfax County.
Under the bill, Republicans and Democrats would get two seats each and endeavor to agree on a fifth, tie-breaking member. In case of a stalemate, the fifth member would be chosen by the chief circuit judge.
Republicans said the system invites partisan mischief because Democratic lawmakers have had exclusive control over judicial appointments.
O'Brien said that disputes in a political campaign should be played out in the court of public opinion, not in some artificial panel that could have its own agenda.
Despite GOP protests, the House tentatively approved the bill, 77-21.
The vote, however, could prove moot. If the bill were to become law, Fairfax Republicans could refuse to participate. Republicans are still smarting over a "nonpartisan" commission in the late 1970s in which the swing vote was Leslie Byrne, head of the local League of Women Voters who later became a Democratic delegate and member of Congress.
"Everyone agrees on the platitude of referring your problems to an impartial group," O'Brien said in an interview, "but the experience in Fairfax is that is not the way it works out."
If the commission idea fails, House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton, said he was ready to push for a law to allow candidates to sue opponents for false statements. Candidates found to have shown "actual malice" in making false statements would be forced to reimburse opponents for money spent for media and mail to rebut the false charges.
"I'd love to sue ya'll to get the money back," Cranwell told his GOP colleagues.
Earlier in the day, Democrats and Republicans also sparred over a GOP proposal to give each party proportional representation on House committees. Republicans complained that even though their numbers nearly equal Democrats', they have only four of 22 seats on the powerful Appropriations Committee.
"The time of one party dictating everything because they have a few more seats should come to an end," declared Del. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem.
Cranwell, the Democrats' point man, replied that locking the House into a partisan formula could deprive some regions of a voice on certain committees.
"Are you doing something good for the citizens of the commonwealth, or are you further politicizing the process?'' he asked.
Democrats beat back the GOP plan on a largely party-line vote.
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996by CNB