Bacon's Rebellion

Committee Calculus

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by

James A. Bacon
in

From the Monday Times-Dispatch:

“The (Republican House) caucus convened amid Democrats’ contentions that the minority party has picked up enough wins – six members elected in the past three years – to add another Democrat to each of the House’s standing committees. Late last week, Del. Brian J. Moran of Alexandria, the Democratic caucus chairman, warned Republicans not to change procedural rules in January to deny the minority additional seats.”

Okay — let’s talk about real power: Speaker Bill Howell’s power to fill committee seats with fifteen freshmen (sixteen if Ryan McDougal moves to the Senate) showing up in January.

Do the Democrats have a point? I know they don’t have a moral leg to stand on after their behavior when they were in charge, but there is that nagging line about two wrongs not making a right, so do they have a point?

There are 22 seats on most House committees (25 on Appropriations.) Doing the math with 58 R’s, 39 D’s and 3 I’s, that splits each committee up 12.76 R’s, 8.58 D’s and 0.66 I. Even if Brad Marrs prevails in a recount of that district and the Republican count goes to 59, the standard Republican committee share goes to 12.98. Putney is a Republican in all but name, making it 60-39-1 (if Marrs prevails). But that still leaves the basic D share of a 22-member committee at 8.58.

The current split on most committees gives the Democrats 8 seats out of 22 (and 8 out of 25 on Appropriations, where a 39 percent share would be 9.75 seats.) On the important Commerce and Labor Committee, Democrats had only seven seats of 22 on the 2005 roster. It is kind of hard to give the Democrats 0.58 of a seat, of course, but it is possible to give them nine on some committees and eight on others. It is also possible to leave things just as they are.

I mention this only because while we are up on the high plains of policy on Bacon’s Rebellion Blog, the people who make their living working the halls of the GA are pondering all this and in some cases trying to influence things. Six openings on Courts. Six on Education. Four on Transportation and four coveted seats on Appropriations. This is where the real work gets decided — committee assignments.

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8 responses to “Committee Calculus”

  1. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    You always have to ask “Who gave money to Dominion Leadership Trust?”

    The Hurt-Marshall-Hogan PAC gave $45K. Who got the open seat on Appropriations? Why, that would be Mr. Hogan.

    For 2006, it would appear that Sam Nixon, Bobby Orrock, Phil Hamilton and Tim Hugo have been very team-oriented.

    Dominion Leadership Trust

  2. Will Vehrs Avatar
    Will Vehrs

    Republicans have suffered mightily for appearing to be less “bi-partisan” than the Democrats and especially less than Gov. Warner. Most Virginians don’t have the long memories of political junkies.

    They should place Democrats on committees in proportion to their numbers as much as possible and they should announce that decision with much fanfare.

    At the very least, they need to set a marker out for the inevitable day when they lose their majority.

  3. Tim Hugo Avatar
    Tim Hugo

    Actually, VPAP should show that Tim Hugo for Delegate gave $20,000 to the Speaker’s Dominion Leadership Trust.

    The last report shows that we gave over $44K to the Speaker and GOP candidates.

    http://www.vpap.org/cands/candtocand_level2.cfm?ComID=COM00076&ExpCode=&Year=2005

    The final report should show that I gave over $50K to our candidates.

    We’ve all got to pull together to win this races….

    Thanks for a good blog!

  4. NoVA Scout Avatar
    NoVA Scout

    Political philanthropy flourishes where political opposition is non-existent. Who says we need to re-think how we draw our district lines?

  5. Not Larry Sabato Avatar
    Not Larry Sabato

    If this election was a trend and not a one time event, Tim Hugo will have to start spending that money in his own district. It went from safe R, to damned close for Governor.

  6. CG2 Avatar
    CG2

    Unless the power sharing agreement is amended, calculus for the balance of power is not R’s v. D’s. It is “members of the majority caucus” v. non members of the majority caucus. Thus, independents count against the majority caucus in the apportionment of seats unless they formally caucus with the majority. Thus, the reason for empty threats over the years to oust (variously, at different times) Panny Rhodes, Bob Bloxom, Harvey Morgan, Phil Hamilton from the majority caucus, and the reason why Lacey Putney has caucused with the Republicans since the beginning of power sharing when the partisan count was closer.

  7. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Tim Hugo for Governor!!!!!

  8. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    CG2: The rules (16-a) state that if the ratio of majority members produces a fraction, then the majority party gets the number seats equal to “the next highest whole number.” So with 59 members, counting Putney, they get 13 (12.98) members on all committees except approps, where they get 15. Souhds like they might lose seats across the board. Maybe they need to welcome Katherine Waddell after all?

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