THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 10, 1996 TAG: 9603100163
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY WARREN FISKE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long : 128 lines
Unable to resolve a struggle over the state's $35 billion budget, the General Assembly was forced late Saturday to postpone its adjournment by at least one day.
The unusual delay - the first since 1984 - is the result of a 20-20 partisan split in the Senate and a power vacuum left by the departure of a legendary Hampton finance czar.
Lawmakers insist the slowdown won't cost taxpayers anything and say the short time they will have to review the final budget won't result in reckless spending decisions.
Even in the smoothest of years, differences over the budget often don't get settled until late. Using every available minute is a time-honored negotiating trick. But this year, lawmakers lost days just in getting to the negotiating table.
Most of the 140 lawmakers spent Saturday milling around the Capitol awaiting word from the eight negotiators who had been assigned to hash out differences between the House and Senate versions of the $35 billion state budget.
``We don't have a pope yet,'' House Speaker Thomas W. Moss Jr., D-Norfolk, quipped late in the afternoon at a time when, in many previous years, he would have been on his way home.
The state's two-year budget, and proposals for reform of the juvenile justice system, were the only marquee items left hanging late Saturday night when weary lawmakers voted to officially extend the legislative session until midnight Sunday.
As the clock ran down, negotiators began striking long-awaited agreements on key budget issues.
Del. V. Earl Dickinson, D-Louisa, said the panel had agreed to give teachers raises totaling 3.75 percent over the next two years and a 6.35 percent increase to state employees over the same span.
The panel recommended giving Gov. George F. Allen $30 million for a deal-closing fund to help recruit industries to Virginia. That's $8 million less than the governor wanted.
Any compromise plan still must be approved by the full General Assembly.
And with a number of key budget issues still unresolved, chagrined legislators rearranged their personal schedules and started considering the public fallout if they appear to be gridlocked.
``I think there's a real sensitivity to any public perception that we're beginning to look like Congress,'' said Del. Thomas M. Jackson Jr., D-Carroll. ``We run a greater chance losing elections when we appear gridlocked than when we've merely voted on the wrong side of an issue.''
Concerned about the public's reaction, lawmakers agreed not to accept $92 a day in expenses after Saturday, and will pay for any extra nights in hotels and meals themselves.
More importantly, they say, the in-fighting will not compromise the budget. Part of the delay, they say, is due to the negotiators' genuine differences on spending priorities. And part, they say, is caused by a power fight that may seem odd to most people, but means the world to legislative insiders.
For more than a century, both houses of the General Assembly were controlled by Democrats, who single-handedly determined how to spend state money. That changed in last fall's elections, when the 40 Senate seats were evenly split between the two parties. Among the defeated Democrats was Sen. Hunter B. Andrews of Hampton, the imperious chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees the budget.
This winter, Democrats and Republicans agreed to share all power in the Senate. Andrews was replaced on the Finance Committee by two co-chairmen: Democrat Stanley C. Walker of Norfolk and Republican John H. Chichester of Fredericksburg.
Key to the peacemaking arrangement was an agreement to expand the number the number of budget negotiators from eight to 10. The trouble began last month when Moss, the Norfolk Democrat who is speaker of the House, refused to agree to the expansion, saying he didn't want the all-important budget negotiations between the House and Senate to become mired by too many participants.
That meant that the Senate was entitled to appoint only four negotiators. Chichester claimed the right to appoint two, and named himself and Sen. Virgil H. Goode Jr., D-Franklin, who had helped Republicans reach the power-sharing agreement.
Walker, a mild-mannered, 72-year-old lawmaker who disdains confrontation, was left in a bind - forced to choose between two colleagues expecting to be negotiators.
Walker at first refused to choose. He insisted that Goode be passed over for the two more senior lawmakers he wanted. Chichester refused.
It took eight days for Walker to bend. That meant that the conference committee - which had been scheduled to conclude its work Thursday night - didn't even start meeting until Wednesday night.
The negotiations immediately bogged down. Both sides acknowledged that the absence of the once-dominating Andrews was a key factor.
``Hunter just knew everything about the budget, and people listened to him,'' said Sen. Charles J. Colgan, D-Prince William. ``His presence is missed.''
Andrew's departure also opened a new competition among the House and Senate negotiators for the upper hand in budget talks. Seizing the dominant role this year, lawmakers said, was Dickinson, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
Senate negotiators complained that their House colleagues were so intent on winning the competition that they refused to compromise for several days. ``Talking to Earl is like talking to a big oak tree,'' complained Colgan.
House members laughed at the complaint. ``That's the oldest trick in negotiations, to claim the other side won't give an inch,'' said Del. Alan A. Diamonstein, D-Newport News.
Many lawmakers not assigned to the negotiating teams watched the discussions this week with keen interest, hoping their side would prevail. Others dismissed it as mere chest-thumping.
``We take ourselves too seriously, and I don't think the public gives a damn,'' said Del. Raymond R. Guest Jr., R-Warrenton. MEMO: The Associated Press contributed to this story.
ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
House Speaker Thomas W. Moss Jr., D-Norfolk
Sen. Stanley C. Walker, D-Norfolk
Graphic
Text and Research by ROBERT LITTLE and DAVID M. POOLE/The
Virginian-Pilot
STATUS REPORT
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY by CNB