Agree or disagree with the details of the GOP transportation plan, it’s pretty clear that House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, has emerged as a political power in Virginia. Outmaneuvered over taxes by Gov. Mark R. Warner in 2004, and stymied over transportation by Senate Finance Chair John Chichester, R-Northumberland, in 2006, Howell has come tantalizingly close this year to winning the big one.
Howell was the man, with critical assistance from Attorney General Bob McDonnell, who cobbled together the plan despite a huge philosophical gulf between Republicans in the Senate and the House of Delegates. Laying his personal prestige on the line, he went so far as to testify for HB 3202 before the Senate — something that a House Speaker rarely does — and he’s held the fragile Republican coalition together in the face of withering attack.
As the taxes-and-transportation drama has unfolded over the past three years, I’ve observed, Howell has “matured” as a leader. It seems I’m not alone in that view. Tim Craig makes much the same point in a respectful profile in the Washington Post today. Among the quotes:
“He clearly had his hands on the controls and produced, so he has renewed clout and stature,” said Charlie Davis, who has been a statehouse lobbyist for nearly three decades. …
Even Democrats, who are hoping to pick up seats this fall, say Howell scored a big personal victory. “If you are looking at it strictly from a political maneuvering and political success, yeah, he gets credit,” said House Minority Leader Ward L. Armstrong (D-Henry).
