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Senators try bipartisan efforts Date published: 1/13/2009
RICHMOND-- In a state Senate where one party holds just a one-vote majority over the other, it doesn't take a lot of people to swing a vote.Sen. Richard Stuart and three other junior senators are hoping it takes just four votes to decide an issue. Stuart, R-Westmoreland, and the other three--Sen. Jill Holtzman-Vogel, R-Winchester, Sen. Ralph Northam, D-Norfolk, and Sen. John Miller, D-Newport News--have formed what they call the Commonwealth Caucus. They say they're committed to voting their conscience on issues, rather than voting by their party line. "We can't be stuck on doing our job because we're not willing to compromise partisan interests," Stuart said. "That really is what began us talking about this thing. All four of us believe you have to lead from the middle. You can't govern from the far left or the far right, you've got to govern from the middle." Stuart said the four senators were surprised--and appalled--to see the Senate devolve into partisan bickering during last year's session, particularly over judicial appointments in the Hampton Roads area. "I'd always heard that the Senate was not that partisan, that they worked well together and there was a lot less of this partisan bickering. Certainly I don't have a frame of reference but I still was pretty surprised at the amount of partisanship that I experienced," Stuart said. "What really surprises me is the amount of time spent trying to make the other party look bad. That's not one-sided, trust me." The four freshman senators commiserated over the partisanship, Stuart said. He sits next to Vogel on the Senate floor, and they became friends; he bonded with Northam over a shared love of offshore fishing, and Northam was friends with Miller. The four--and any other senator who wants to join them, Stuart said--plan to focus on three things this session: support for a non-partisan redistricting plan, support for a different way of choosing judges, and support for improvements to the Chesapeake Bay. Stuart said all four senators spoke to their party leaders before announcing their new caucus, and were encouraged. "So far, our caucuses have been supportive of what we're doing, at least the leadership," Stuart said. "I did not get any negative reaction, it was all positive from my leadership."
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