The Virginia General Assembly’s Appropriations Committee, chaired by Del. Luke Torian, has revealed itself to be a “slaughterhouse committee” where bills are sent to be killed that the leadership does not want to see move forward, even if these bills have passed the appropriate policy committee. Bills as widely supported as Repeal Right to Work (HB153) and the Green New Deal Act (HB77) were killed simply by not being considered or “put on the docket” through the arcane rules of our legislature. Republican Delegate Kirk Cox was infamous for turning the House Rules Committee into the Republicans’ slaughterhouse for a host of Democratic bills.
Slaughterhouse committees are employed by Democrats in other states such as Colorado and California in the same way the Democrats are doing it here in Virginia, and with stupefying confidence. They kill bills simply by not putting them on the schedule. “No hearing, no debate, no vote,” as Laurel Rosenhall writes about the California Legislature.
It’s the height of hubris, as they assume the activists, unions, and advocacy groups who supported these bills will quietly accept that this is just how things are done. They assume that people can’t follow the machinations of the legislature and that passage of numerous other bills will soon enough to fill the headlines and push down any negative press or social media fallout.
This session it is true that a lot of great bills are heading towards reconciliation and a floor vote. The glass is certainly half full. There is much to celebrate. But we cannot discount or justify the empty half of the glass.
Governor Northam’s survival of the blackface scandal by simply waiting out the hue and cry for just a few weeks, has shown the Democratic leadership how it is done. They believe they can simply wait out the outcry from shocked and disappointed advocates and bill sponsors and the good news will displace any bad feelings.
That’s just how the sausage making is done, they say. It will never change. But will it?
How Power and Control Works in the State Legislature
Whoever is governor of the Commonwealth holds enormous institutional power. The governor will use that power, as well as the assembled influence of his or her political party, to ensure that loyal people are placed in leadership positions. Speaker of the House Eileen Filler-Corn, loyal and politically indebted to Northam, in turn, places people who will owe their allegiance to her and to the party. Loyalty is rewarded and loyal behavior reinforced by assurances that a delegate’s continued incumbency from one election to the next depends on party support. Break ranks, and the money, endorsements and other support may not materialize.
Whips aren’t called whips for nothing. Their role is to persuade lawmakers that there “aren’t enough votes” for contentious bills like HB111, HB77, and HB153 to make it to the floor, as if losing a floor vote is a thing to avoid. Also, consider who has access to lawmakers during session…who is already seated at the table when a lowly legislator steps into a conference room or Filler-Corn’s office? Corporate lobbyists, that’s who. It is most assuredly not the Blue Wave activists, the gray-hair ladies in pink hats who belong to grassroots groups or their local Democratic committee.
Here is the bottom line: If delegates and senators don’t cast a vote on bills that they claimed to support while campaigning, they have no track record to have to defend. This give them plausible deniability and a free pass. That’s how you get entrenched incumbents.
At the Center of Virginia Politics Lies Dominion Energy
Like a spider at the center of a web of influence lies Dominion Energy. This multibillion-dollar monopoly has donated millions of dollars in campaign contributions to both parties, their candidates, and their political action committees. Dominion employs legions of lawyers, publicists, and lobbyists to ensure that their agenda becomes a reality. The system is rigged, but it’s always been rigged in Virginia as business interests formed an unholy alliance with elected officials. That’s The Virginia Way, as Jeff Thomas has detailed across two books.
Dominion Energy gave Del. Luke Torian $48,000 since 2018. It gave Ralph Northam $75,000 for his inaugural and tens of thousands more in direct contributions to his Way Ahead PAC. This money is then essentially laundered when it is passed on to elected officials. It’s an insult to your intelligence when an elected official tells you that they can take the money and not be influenced by corporate contributions, and then allows slaughterhouse committees to kill bills without a hearing, without debate, and without a vote and they allow their leadership to dictate what they can and cannot say. Where is their outrage? I can’t find their public statements that call it loathsome.
State Senator Dick Saslaw made sure SB25 was killed. This bill would have prohibited Dominion Energy and other public service corporations from giving loads of money to the very elected officials who are supposed to regulate them. Then in the house, Josh Cole’s HB111 sister bill was killed by simply not being put in the docket. Outrageous? Yes. A fait accompli according to Dominion Dick who bragged, “Your candidates who made the Activate Virginia pledge know that they can simply get the money through me, and they happily take it.” I can’t think of a better example of what’s wrong with the Virginia Way than Dick Saslaw. Oh wait, how about Ralph Northam being good friends with $16-million a year power broker and CEO of Dominion Energy Tom Farrell, whose people populated Northam’s inaugural committee and work in his administration.
It should make you mad when you follow up CTAs (Calls to Action) and leave elected officials phone messages in voicemail or to their staff, and send emails, and sign petitions, and then you hear nothing back. And you can find no public statement of any kind on just about any issue. Fact: party officials tell candidates to say as little as possible about any issue on record, because “the opposition may use it against them.” I repeat, they are advised to say as little as possible. They are advised to summarize harmless platitudes such as “I’m for the environment, education, and jobs.”
What Can We Do?
Instead of writing and calling begging Del. Luke Torian to do the right thing, because he won’t, how about writing him to tell him he is bought and paid for by Dominion? How about making sure he loses his seat in a primary?
Hold your elected official accountable. Hold them to a higher standard than just being a chair warmer. You don’t have to burn a bridge. But let them know that your support, in terms of donations or time spent canvassing, depends directly on what actions they take in the legislature. “I may vote for you against a Republican in the general, but watch out if there is a Democratic primary, because I value fairness, transparency and above all support for the policies and values I am fighting for.”
Watch what people do, not what they say.
Further Reading
‘Kill Committees’ Are The Graveyards And Safeguards Of Colorado Politics, Colorado Public Radio, March 9, 2018
Time to kill Legislature’s ‘kill committees’ How powerful lawmakers are killing California bills—without a peep CalMatters.org
Indivisible Guide to the California Legislature (link)
Excerpt:
After passing policy committee, bills go to the Appropriations Committee which analyzes the fiscal impact of the bill. All bills which have a fiscal note of more than $150,000 in the Assembly and $50,000 in the Senate (this is most bills) are referred to something known as the Appropriations Suspense File. Once bills go the suspense file, legislators lobby the chair of the Appropriations Committee to take their bills “off suspense.” This process is secretive with no public visibility. In the suspenseful suspense file hearing, all the chosen bills are pulled off suspense, voted on, and passed. The others are left on the suspense file to die.
Indivisible’s Guide to the New York Legislature (link)
Excerpt
Albany has a well-earned reputation for secrecy, power hoarding and obstruction. The kind of measures that ensure public transparency in other states, such as public committee hearings, are uncommon. Major decisions are usually made by the Governor, Assembly Speaker and Senate Majority Leader—the “three men in a room” (but now two men and one woman!) you may have heard of—rather than by the full legislature. The budget is a great example of the outsized power of New York State’s leadership in the legislative process.
U. S. State Legislative Committee Assignments and Encouragement of Party Loyalty: An Exploratory Analysis
Kristin Kanthak, State Politics & Policy Quarterly
Vol. 9, No. 3 (Fall, 2009), pp. 284-303 (20 pages)
ABSTRACT (Full article available for free by registering on JSTOR)
Although political parties in U. S. legislatures cannot compel discipline with the threat of expulsion from the legislature, they can encourage greater party loyalty by strategically bestowing benefits upon favored members. This article explores the use of plum committee assignments to encourage legislators’ loyalty to their parties. I outline a theory of how party leaders can use committee assignments strategically to encourage more loyal legislative behavior. This occurs when legislative rules meet two criteria: (1) parties and their leaders can determine who serves on committees and (2) committees have real authority over policy outcomes. I test the theory using data from five state legislatures that differ on the relevant set of legislative rules, finding more party loyalty shown by legislators who receive plum committee assignments when rules meet both criteria and no effect when they do not.
The Virginia Way: Democracy and Power after 2016 by Jeff Thomas