NOTE: All I can say is that the ground in and around Albemarle County must be shaking violently this morning, because after what HoD leadership just pulled, Thomas Jefferson is surely spinning in his grave…
In a move that makes all of its previous acts of mishugoss (craziness) seem tame, the Republican leadership of the Va. House of Delegates has gone, as the British say, totally blinkers.
After proposing a bill (on behalf of some police departments, allowing government workers to unionize) Del. Adam Ebbin’s subsequent request to pull the bill, to add to it language that government employees would be prohibited from striking, was rejected by Republican House Leadership.
Instead, and in an effort expressly intended to embarrass House Democrats, the loonies led by House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith (R-Salem Witch Hunt) and Party General Secretary House Speaker Bill Howell (R-Falmouth Light) imposed a new rule allowing the House Speaker to send any bill straight to the floor, to be up-or-down voted by the full House.
Anita Kumar’s, story in today’s WAPO, picks it up, here:
In a rare move, the GOP leaders used an obscure House of Delegates rule to force almost all the Democrats to vote, against their wishes, on a collective bargaining bill. The Republicans intended to get the pro-labor Democrats’ vote on record to use against them in elections.
The article continues:
Ebbin wrote Howell this week asking for the bill to be withdrawn, a routine request nearly always granted to a bill’s sponsor. But Republicans would not let Ebbin do so. Democrats say it was the first time since 1982 that a legislator has not been able to strike his bill.
Mao would be very proud of Griffith and Howell!
Filed under: Local Politics
Unfortunately, this is consistent with the Speaker’s tactics.
When Bill Howell removed legislators from BOTH parties from their committees and chairmanships, he made it clear that this session was not going to be about the people’s business, but rather political revenge and power plays.
At a time when Virginians are desperate for consensus and real solutions to their problems, the Speaker has sunk to new lows of partisanship and demagoguery.
He should be ashamed of himself.
[...] UPDATE: Fred2Blue has more. [...]
Ebbin screwed up and the Republicans won’t let him off the hook. All this shows is partisanship is now everything in the HOD.