THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 23, 1995 TAG: 9501230069
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEC KLEIN, DAVID M. POOLE AND ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITERS
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
Here's a look at some of what the local General Assembly delegation was up to last week.
It was serious enough when Portsmouth City Council members were bickering with each other last week over a casino operator's bid to build a boat in their backyard.
But then matters turned for the worst for some lawmakers, who were embarrassed when Portsmouth Mayor Gloria O. Webb pulled out at the last minute as one of the hosts of a glitzy Richmond riverboat reception aboard the Spirit of Norfolk, which was taken to Richmond for the occasion.
The problem: the invitations, carrying her name along with those of the mayors of Norfolk and Hampton, were already in the mail.
``She got religion after the invitations were sent out,'' Del. Kenneth R. Melvin, D-Portsmouth, said in a crowded elevator in the General Assembly Building.
Webb chilled to floating casinos after initially supporting a bid by Nevada-based El Dorado to operate a Portsmouth boat. Several prominent community leaders, with ties to the City Council, have become local investors in the proposed El Dorado venture.
Rumors of Senate Republican revolt against Gov. George F. Allen swirled around the Capitol last week as members of the GOP Senate caucus emerged grim-faced from a series of closed meetings with Allen administration officials.
Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle of Virginia Beach insisted that his colleagues were united behind Allen's five-year, $2.1 billion tax cuts.
The long faces, Stolle said, resulted from frustration that newly energized Democratic lawmakers were winning the battle to frame the issue in the media.
Stolle blamed the press for perpetuating the ``absolute lie'' that Allen's tax cuts - which total $148 million next year - would require $403 million in budget cuts.
``We have a $250 million hole coming into the session,'' Stolle said. ``If Allen said, `It's your budget, do what you want,' we still have a $250 million hole to fill.''
Stolle said the Republican senators did ask Allen to deploy his bully pulpit to set the record straight.
Thought your state legislators were worried simply about spending taxes, making laws and otherwise keeping Virginia safe from an anarchistic collapse?
Think again.
Politicians, many times, have to worry about politics. And occasionally, one will admit it.
Consider Senate Majority Leader Hunter B. Andrews, D-Hampton, who offered some advice Monday to lawmakers concerned not just with making laws, but with keeping their jobs, as well.
``You might want to remember the fact that if you don't put a bill in, you don't have to defend it later,'' said Andrews, speaking on the floor of the state Senate and reminding legislators of the November elections.
``Perhaps you would be better off this year by restraining your enthusiasm.''
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY RIVERBOAT GAMBLING TAX CUTS BUDGET by CNB