January 18, 2008
Dear Friends:
Today we completed the first full week of the 2008 Session of the Virginia General Assembly. From now until our (hoped-for) adjournment on March 8, I’ll write every week or so to let you know what’s going on in Richmond.
FIRST DAYS IN REVIEW
At noon on Wednesday, January 9, the 2008 Session opened with the Clerk swearing in 99 Delegates to their two-year terms (the 100th seat, over in the Northern Neck, is vacant because the incumbent was elected to Congress in a special election in December.) Joining us were nine freshmen, with friends and family on hand to witness the occasion.The opening day consisted largely of formalities: election of the Speaker and other officers of the House (Clerk and Sergeant at Arms), notifying the Governor that we were open for business, and that night, hearing his State of the Commonwealth address. After the Governor, Senators, and other distinguished guests had departed the chamber, the Clerk read off the Speaker’s list of committee assignments (unlike the U.S. Congress, where each party controls its members’ committee assignments, the Speaker appoints all members — Republicans and Democrats alike — to all committees. It’s one of the sources of that office’s immense powers.)
Because the Democrats gained seats in the November election, we also gained slots on the House’s standing committees. In addition to retaining my membership on the Appropriations and Privileges and Elections committees, I was named to Transportation — which handles issues of vital importance to Virginia and our region in particular. (At the first meeting of the committee, the new members were asked to introduce themselves and describe their districts. I noted that the 48th has more Metro stations than any other district.)
“WHAT DO YOU DO ALL DAY?â€
The assignment to Transportation, along with my new membership on a third subcommittee of Appropriations, adds to an already busy schedule. There are now 10 regularly scheduled meetings of my subcommittees and committees each week. Each of us also has a lot of other items on our calendars: the daily caucus meeting and floor session (sessions are short now, but are likely to go two or three hours in a few weeks); appearances before subcommittees and committees hearing bills we introduced; greeting visitors from home; meetings with groups interested in particular pieces of legislation; planning sessions with our staff, etc. etc. etc. Already our days begin before 8:00 AM (one of my subcommittees this week convened at 7) and end more than 12 hours later.
THE VIEW FROM MY WINDOW
After members’ first elections, the Clerk assigns them a vacant office (with an adjacent office for their aides) in the General Assembly Building Every two years after that, a member may put in a request for new space that comes open due to a senior member’s departure (either by retirement, an adverse decision from the voters, or a move up the ladder to a different office).This Seniority/Musical Chairs process made for some changes on 7 West this year. My next door neighbor, Brian Moran of Alexandria, opted to take an office on the front of the building (it has a view of the Capitol, which is supposed to make it more prestigious). That gave me a chance to claim Brian’s old space; Kris Amundson took mine; Adam Ebbin took Kris’; and newly elected McLean Delegate Margi Vanderhye took Adam’s.
The best feature of the new corner office is the view. To the north are the 22-story tall Richmond City Hall, John Marshall’s house, and the Library of Virginia — which I could see from my former office. Now I also look out to the west of Capitol Square and down Broad Street, one of Richmond’s main east-west thoroughfares.The view to the west is dominated by the new Federal courthouse building a block away. The seven-story tall, 337,000 square foot building has been under construction for several years and is to be completed this summer. It will supplement the historic building at the foot of Capitol Hill (most recently the site of the Michael Vick proceedings) that currently houses the 4th District Court of Appeals, the Richmond divisions of the District and Bankruptcy Courts, and the U.S. Marshals Service offices.
Between the new courthouse and the General Assembly Building sits 1/2 city block of empty space, temporarily bring used as a parking lot. This summer and fall the Commonwealth opened up our view of the courthouse by tearing down a former hotel that had been pressed into service several decades ago as a state office building. They had to take it down brick by brick, rather than just imploding it, because the adjacent Saint Peter’s Catholic Church was built in 1835 on wooden pilings.
The plan is to construct a state office building on the site, fronting on Broad Street, and to use it as interim quarters for the General Assembly while they demolish the unsafe and inefficient building we now occupy and build us a new General Assembly Building. The danger, though, is that economic conditions will delay the project and that the “temporary†parking lot across the way will become a permanent fixture of downtown Richmond (Kind of like the “temporary†offices that were constructed on the Mall in Washington during World War I. It was Richard Nixon who finally got rid of them.) Through a break in the skyline you can see the hulk of the old Hotel John Marshall, topped by the neon sign that hasn’t been lit for years. When I was sworn into the bar there 30 years ago, the John Marshall was nothing fancy – just a serviceable downtown hotel. Then it went into decline. 
At one point, the guest rooms were closed but the public meeting facilities on the first floor stayed open. It was eerie walking through the deserted lobby to go to a reception: you almost expected to see Jack Nicholson sitting across the way, typing out “All Work and No Play . . .†over and over and over.
Well, that’s all for the first report. Let me hear from you, and drop in to 711 GAB if you’re in Richmond!
