Reality Check

Steve Haner


 

This New House 

With up to 17 newcomers it will be a very different House of Delegates in January.  Most of the rookies have had careers in government, and few have any real business experience.


 

There will be sixteen and possibly seventeen new faces in the House of Delegates next month – a surprising upheaval in an election that comes halfway through the redistricting cycle.  A change like that can have unexpected effects.  Like what?  Well, then they wouldn’t be unexpected.  But I think a big step toward the center is indicated.                

 

Only five of the seats were vacated by political defeats (three Republican incumbents and two Democrats). The rest of the openings were caused by criminal convictions (Fenton Bland), early retirements (Albert Pollard, Allen Louderback, Glenn Weatherholtz), ambitions (Viola Baskerville, Chap Petersen, Bob McDonnell), retirements after long service (Jim Dillard, Mitch Van Yahres, Paul Councill) and, always sad to note, health issues (Marian Van Landingham).

 

The potential seventeenth new face will appear if Ryan McDougle, R-Hanover, heads to the Senate to replace Lt. Governor Bill Bolling.

 

Not long ago term limits was all the rage, but in Virginia the House in particular and the Senate to a lesser degree have always seen substantial turnover. The headlines after the election focused on a small shift in the partisan split, but they didn’t really mention that one in six delegates would be rookies. (One of the newly elected delegates has served previously.)

 

Likewise, the ivory tower worrywarts fret over the lack of partisan competition. The Times-Dispatch editorial page did it again Sunday. But if the House is constantly refreshed with new men and women, isn’t that some compensation? Don’t party nominating contests count? They sure do when you are in one.

 

This column has little other agenda than to run down the list of new people. If you are looking for deep political insights today, click elsewhere. Pending a special election in Hanover and a possible recount in Brad Marrs’ old seat, here they are:

  • David Bulova, D-Fairfax, replaces Chap Petersen.  Bulova is an environmental consultant and member of a political family, and a William and Mary graduate – the only one on the list, sad to say.

  • Chuck Caputo, D-Fairfax, replaces Gary Reese. An electrical engineer and 38-year federal employee, Caputo came across as the most pro-business of the Democrats.

  • Anne Crockett-Stark, R-Wytheville, replaces Benny Keister. She is a retired teacher, a grandmother and part of a well-established political clan. She focused her race on improving the economy in Southwest Virginia.

  • Rosalyn Dance, D-Petersburg, replaces Fenton Bland (she was elected in March and now is a sophomore on paper, but a freshman in reality).  She is the former mayor of Petersburg and retired from the Southside Virginia Training Center, where she rose to the post of deputy director.

  • David Englin, D-Alexandria, replaces Marian Van Landingham. He is an Air Force Academy and Harvard Kennedy School graduate who describes his work as “writer, activist and consultant.” He doesn’t say for whom. I interviewed him for Virginia FREE and he may be more liberal than the lady he is replacing.

  • Todd Gilbert, R-Woodstock, replaces Allen Louderback. Gilbert is an assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Shenandoah County and, in the interviews I saw at least, proved the most humorous of the newcomers.

  • Sal Iaquinto, R-Virginia Beach, replaces Bob McDonnell. Iaquinto is an attorney who worked in the Attorney General’s office under Jim Gilmore and Mark Earley. Of the Republican newcomers he spent the most time discussing transportation in his campaign.

  • Matthew Lohr, R-Rockingham, replaces Glenn Weatherholtz. Lohr is a Tech-educated farmer who faced one of the most competitive and expensive elections of the year as Democrats dreamed of inroads in the Shenandoah Valley. Dream on.

  • David Marsden, D-Fairfax, replaces Jim Dillard.  Marsden is a former Republican who clearly enjoyed major crossover votes. He has had a career managing juvenile justice facilities and programs and could quickly become the go-to delegate on those issues.

  • Jennifer McClellan. D-Richmond, replaces Viola Baskerville. McClellen is a regulatory attorney with Verizon.

  • Donald McEachin, D-Henrico, replaces Floyd Miles. The very successful plaintiff’s attorney recaptures the House seat he surrendered when he failed to win the job of Attorney General in 2001.

  • David Poisson. D-Loudoun, replaces Dick Black. Poisson is a former Capitol Hill staffer turned Washington lobbyist who has a law degree and a Ph.D. in education and promised to spend more time on transportation and the other concerns of a rapidly growing suburban district.

  • David Toscano, D-Charlottesville, replaces Mitch Van Yahres. An attorney in private practice with both a J.D. and a Ph.D. from Virginia, Toscano should be just as liberal as his predecessor – and the district.

  • Roslyn Tyler, D-Jarratt, replaces Paul Councill.  Tyler is a physical therapist and former Sussex County supervisor. Republicans spent a ton of money on behalf of their white candidate and learned the hard way that they had drawn a black majority district which performed exactly as they designed it to.

  • Katherine Waddell, I-Richmond, replaces Brad Marrs. After 20 years of party activism as a pro-choice Republican and service on the staff of Republican Lieutenant Governor John Hager, will she join that party’s caucus? It would sure help Republicans hold their margins on committees.

  • Robert Wittman, R-Montross, replaces Albert Pollard. Wittman is a biologist with the state’s shellfish sanitation program with a Ph.D. in public policy, and a native of the Northern Neck with long service in local government.

Five of the sixteen are female, four are African-American. Ten are Democrats, five Republicans and one an independent who was a Republican activist. Five of the male Democrats are named David (that’s weird.) Six are lawyers. Several have Ph.D. degrees and several more masters in various fields – bringing some real world expertise the House always needs.

 

By my count nine of them have spent all or part of their working lives in government. Several are self-employed as consultants or lawyers but only one, the farmer Matt Lohr, runs a significant business. Dance is part owner of a restaurant. The shortage of business experience is a major cause for concern, but only a handful showed hostility toward business positions in their questionnaire answers or campaign positions.

 

-- November 28, 2005

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve Haner is the former chief lobbyist for the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and is now a government affairs and public relations consultant doing business as North Chase Communica- tions.  You may reach him at northchase

    (at)earthlink.net.

 

Read his profile.