Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

The Games Have Begun

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by

Dick Hall-Sizemore
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Andrew Wheeler Photo credit: Steve Helber/AP

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

Senate Democrats are up in arms over Governor Youngkin’s nomination of Andrew Wheeler as Secretary of Natural Resources. Today, The Washington Post reports that Republicans have upped the stakes.

It seems that a member of the State Corporation Commission is up for election. Angela Navarro was elected by the Democratically controlled 2021 General Assembly to fill a seat that had been vacated. Her term expires this coming Monday unless the General Assembly elects her to a full term.

Angela Navarro

The House Republicans are threatening to hold up, or scuttle, the re-election of Navarro unless the Democrats back off on their opposition to Wheeler.  If the SCC seat is left vacant when the General Assembly adjourns, the governor can appoint someone to serve until the 2023 session of the General Assembly. The Senate majority leader, Richard Saslaw, D-Springfield, declared, “We’re not going to operate that way.” However, another member of the Democratic caucus, Senator Scott Surovell, D-Mount Vernon, had a more nuanced view. He pointed out that a member of the SCC is much more important than a cabinet post.

One wild card in these negotiations is held by one of the mavericks in the Senate Democratic caucus, Joe Morrissey, D-Richmond.  After a committee appearance by Wheeler last week, Morrissey declared that he was open to supporting him.  Thus, if Morrissey lets his caucus know that he is going to vote to confirm Wheeler, Senate Democrats could easily take the trade that the Republicans are offering: Navarro for Wheeler, because they would know they are going to lose on Wheeler anyway.

I have heard that the Senate Privileges and Election Committee will take up Governor Youngkin’s appointments next Wednesday.

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12 responses to “The Games Have Begun”

  1. Acbar Avatar
    Acbar

    Interesting you say, Dick, that a seat on the SCC is more valuable. It would be if the SCC had some freedom to do its job — free, that is, from GA constraints that forbid it to do its job. E.g., it wasn’t but 2 days ago that SH was saying here, “The 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act with its wind, solar and battery mandates and constraints on SCC oversight is incredibly complicated. Few understood it when it was adopted and many still don’t. A sudden move to repeal it wholesale probably raises the same issues as the earlier behind-the-scenes push to create it. A year spent really tearing it apart and considering revisions might be the best way to get back on a better track.”

    1. Stephen Haner Avatar
      Stephen Haner

      The SCC’s reach goes way beyond the regulated energy utilities, Acbar. I agree, constrained in some areas, but also restoring that authority is very possible. In fact, THAT should have been the deal, you can keep the judge but give the SCC back its “reasonable and prudent rule.” It would apply to her, too.

      In all honesty, I don’t know her. She was point person for Northam on the 2018 and 2020 legislation and ran the stakeholder meetings which did not include me, a lost opportunity for me to see her in action (and a lost opportunity for me to stick up for consumers.) Dominion will never let me be at the table again. I throw rocks from here. 🙂

    2. Stephen Haner Avatar
      Stephen Haner

      The SCC’s reach goes way beyond the regulated energy utilities, Acbar. I agree, constrained in some areas, but also restoring that authority is very possible. In fact, THAT should have been the deal, you can keep the judge but give the SCC back its “reasonable and prudent” standard on applications. She too would have to follow it.

      Cabinet officers, OTOH, have no real power and seldom lasting impact. This guy, if he gets in, will head back to DeeCee should the winds change up there.

      In all honesty, I don’t know her. She was point person for Northam on the 2018 and 2020 legislation and ran the stakeholder meetings which did not include me, a lost opportunity for me to see her in action (and a lost opportunity for me to stick up for consumers.) Dominion will never let me be at the table again. I throw rocks from here. 🙂

      1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
        Dick Hall-Sizemore

        Uh oh! You let out the big secret: “Cabinet officers have no real power and seldom lasting impact.”

  2. Stephen Haner Avatar
    Stephen Haner

    “However, another member of the Democratic caucus, Sen. Scott Surovell (Fairfax), had a more nuanced view. He pointed out that a member of the SCC is much more important than a Cabinet post.”

    That would be true. If reappointed she would settle in and be there for decades to come, a powerful one-third of the total vote on that forum. There is a chicken and egg question here, as it is entirely possible it was the Democrats who put Wheeler in doubt in order to save her….six to one, half a dozen to the other.

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      How Machiavellian!

    2. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      Wow! That thought did not occur to me. If true, the Republicans took the bait.

      And to make it more Machiavellian, perhaps Morrissey is just giving them cover.

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        It’s one of my favorite words, having worked 20+ years with someone who believed himself to be Niccolo reincarnated.

  3. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    The games have gone off the reservation…
    https://www.expressnews.com/news/legislature/article/National-Butterfly-Center-closes-for-weekend-16814973.php#photo-21967197

    1. Stephen Haner Avatar
      Stephen Haner

      Paywall (ugh) but the headline is intriguing…My son lives there but doesn’t take the paper…

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        There are other sites, but you might consider them less than acceptable. Apparently, she’s at least Q-curious. The QAnon people have listed the butterfly sanctuary as a “sex trafficking” location. Ms. Lowe and a woman identifying herself as a Secret Service bodyguard to Ms. Lowe went ape on the people who run the place wanting to see illegals being held there, eventually stealing a cellphone before leaving.

      2. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        From the SAExpress

        “Wright was on a conference call when her son, Nicholas, interrupted her to say two women had arrived, refused to pay an entrance fee and demanded to enter the back 70 acres of the property and see the “illegals crossing on rafts.” Wright asked for their names and looked up Lowe’s Facebook page, where she saw that the candidate had just posted a video of herself driving near the sanctuary and parking in front of a gate with a “no trespassing” sign on it.

        Wright recorded herself confronting them: “You are here to promote your agenda, and your agenda is not welcome here.”

        “So you’re not for helping all these poor people in the humanitarian crisis?” Lowe replied. “You’re OK with children being sex trafficked and raped and murdered.”

        Scuffle breaks out

        As they prepared to leave, Lowe’s friend said a Border Patrol agent told the women that they could access the river through the center’s property. She added: “I’m federal, I work for Secret Service, so nothing is off-limits for me.”

        Wright laughed at the claim. She then noticed that Lowe was using her phone to video record her, narrating: “We’re here with a woman who’s not a very nice person, who’s OK with children —”

        Lowe stopped as Wright swiped at her phone. “You did not take my (expletive) phone!” Lowe yelled.

        In an affidavit obtained by Hearst Newspapers, Wright said she “panicked” when she saw the phone and grabbed it. Lowe then threw her to the ground, her son told police.

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        He called 911 and briefly joined the scuffle, as Lowe’s friend grabbed Wright’s phone.

        Lowe ran to her vehicle and started a since-deleted Facebook live video, in which she screamed for the other woman to join her in the car. After giving the phone back to Wright, the friend jumped in the vehicle and Lowe hit the gas.

        Nicholas was closing the gates, later explaining that he suspected the women were trying to take off with the phone before police arrived. In an affidavit, he said he had to dive out of the way to avoid being run over.

        The women drove off.

        Wright said police showed up about an hour later. She would like to press charges, though she said she doubts the police will take action.”

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