Newsletter

February 16, 2003

Dear Friends:

Here are a few of the events that occupied us during Week 6 of the 2003 Session.

TUESDAY - THE THIRD BRANCH CHANGES LEADERS

So much of our time in Richmond is devoted to interplay between the Executive and Legislative Branches that we sometimes overlook the third branch, the judiciary. It's been different this session. The General Assembly's Inquisition-like review of several judges' records earlier in the session, and the removal of one sitting judge, focused attention on the power that the House and Senate hold over judges and the potential threat to the principle of judicial independence if that power is misused.

Last week on Tuesday, at the Supreme Court chambers down the street from the Capitol, Leroy Rountree Hassell was sworn in as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia. His predecessor, Harry Carrico, retired after 42 years on the court, 22 as Chief Justice.

In 1989, at the age of 34 and without having ever served on the bench, Justice Hassell was nominated by Governor Gerald L. Baliles and elected by the General Assembly to the Supreme Court. He will be Virginia's first black chief justice and, at 47, one of the youngest. ``I have been the youngest person to do certain things longer than I have been the only black,'' Hassell said in an interview in 1989. ``I don't think you should let the fact that you are young or the fact that you are black inhibit your goals in life."

WEDNESDAY - MONOPOLY FOR MILLIONAIRES

Even though tough budget times in Richmond are forcing us to trim back on essential services, the proposal to eliminate Virginia's estate tax - at a cost of over $100 million annually -- went chugging forward last week. This is another bumper sticker bill - a measure with a glib surface appeal that disguises its ultimate costs. Even though it is being sold as relief for family-owned business people and family farmers who otherwise would have to sell their holdings to pay the tax, in reality it would benefit only a handful of extremely wealthy folks. When an amendment was offered to limit the bill's relief to its purported beneficiaries - small businesses and family farms -- the majority voted it down. (The bill was also peddled as a job-saver for the state: it was claimed that if we didn't pass it, the wealthy would migrate to states with more favorable tax climates, taking the employment they generated with them. This led to some speculation about the job titles of those employees of the super-rich. "Poodle fluffer," "pony holder," and "exotic fish walker" were three that came immediately to mind.)

The estate tax repeal is the latest in a string of promises for tax relief or service funding that have been made but not fulfilled. To emphasize that point, we attempted to make the repeal contingent on first keeping some of those other promises: before cutting the estate tax, the state would first have to complete earlier enacted tax cuts on cars and food, and would have to meet its obligation to fund public schools instead or shifting the burden to local governments. But through some parliamentary maneuvering, we weren't able to offer those amendments, and the "Promise 'Em Anything Caucus" won the day.

THURSDAY -- "IT'S GOING TO BE A BUMPY NIGHT"

Highway safety advocates cheered on Thursday when the House passed a bill allowing police to stop drivers for not wearing seat belts. Proponents said that the increase in seat belt usage could save hundreds of Virginians' lives.

The razor-thin margin of victory on Thursday, however, gave rise to fears that opponents would find a way to bring the bill up for another vote. (Remember Richmond's First Law of Legislating: "Nothing's ever over.") Sure enough, after an evening of intense arm twisting, the bill was reconsidered on Friday. Three former supporters flip-flopped to provide the margin of defeat.

The majority leader portrayed the vote as a victory for individual rights. "Our heritage is not to restrain people's freedoms, but to preserve them," he intoned. ."There is a streak of defenders of liberty -- that philosophy -- in the House." (Of course, this particular strain of liberty-loving seems pretty situational, confined largely to safety measures such as seat belts, banning open liquor containers in cars, and keeping guns out of bars. Other questions of personal freedom such as women's reproductive rights and keeping the government out of people's bedrooms don't seem to fit.)

All is not gloom. A couple of my bills - one to keep the doors of the state's free clinics open by allowing them to participate in a "risk management plan" for liability insurance, and another to assure that kids in the children's health insurance program will have a stable medical home by signing them up for a year at a time - passed out of Senate committees last week and are headed for the Senate floor.

Until next week -

Bob Brink