Speaker William Howell: Doing the Right Thing

Character has often been describes as doing the right thing when no one is looking.  In the case of Speaker Howell, character is sometimes doing the right thing when everyone is looking and it takes courage.

Today Speaker Howell proved his mettle by voting the sneak Republican plan to redistrict not germane.  According to the Washington Post:

 House Speaker William J. Howell, one of Richmond’s most reliable Republican votes, bucked his own party Wednesday to derail a Senate redistricting plan that could have handed the GOP control of that chamber for decades.

Howell (Stafford) used a procedural ruling to kill the new Senate map, resisting pressure from his  caucus and Senate Republicans, who assured him that state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R) was prepared to back the plan.

The redistricting plan drew national attention, and it was lampooned on cable TV because Republicans had muscled it through the evenly divided Senate when a Democrat regarded as a civil rights leader was away attending President Obama’s inauguration. The measure probably would have passed in the House had it gone to the floor for a vote. But as speaker, Howell had the power to make it go away.

“I am committed to upholding the honor and traditions of both the office of Speaker, the institution as a whole and the Commonwealth of Virginia,” he said in a statement.

Governor McDonnell had also spoken out about the way the redistricting plan got harpooned through the Senate while Senator Marsh was attending President Obama’s inauguration.  He also questioned the timing and thus, its constitutionality.

Many of Speaker Howell’s Republican colleagues were furious, to say the very least.  The Richmond Times Dispatch reported the following:

Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment, Jr., R-James City County, said in a statement that the “entire Senate Republican Caucus is deeply disappointed” Howell’s ruling. He contends that in the two weeks since a germaneness objection was raised, “we consulted with constitutional law experts and outside counsels familiar with the legislative process and precedent in the Virginia General Assembly. All have confirmed that our original determination regarding germaneness was correct, and that the Senate substitute to House Bill 259 is indeed germane.”

Some of the Republicans are angry enough that they have threatened to block Gov. McDonnell’s transportation initiative that Sen. Howell is helping with.

Speaker Howell admitted to even praying over  on the issue, he felt so strongly about it.  The Washington Post reported:

 …he and his staff pored over 30 years of legislative  rulings and turned to the state Capitol’s parliamentary bible: a leather-bound first edition of Thomas Jefferson’s “A Manual of Parliamentary Practice.”

Howell, a Baptist who participates in a Capitol Bible study group on Wednesday mornings at 7, also turned to the real Bible. “Frankly, I think a lot of if it has been reflecting and praying,” a person close to him said.

Meanwhile, Del David Toscano, D-Charlottesville, House minority leader had this to say:

“[Howell’s ruling} is  “one of the most courageous rulings I’ve ever seen made during my time here. Because the speaker was clearly choosing Virginia over Washington D.C. — an atmosphere of Virginia over an atmosphere of Washington, D.C.”

Speaker Howell certain deserves to be commended.  Clearly the Va. Constitution forbids anything but minor tweaking to districts.  This redistricting proposal was a major overhaul.   This situation was politics at its ugliest.

The move for redistricting was sneaky, underhanded, unconstitutional and just not the way to do business.  I am curious why the Senate was even in session on Martin Luther King Day.   Does that bother anyone else?    At any rate, you don’t sneak around in anticipation of folks going to the inauguration.  Those people who did that lack character.

I disagree with a lot Speaker Howell does.  We simply don’t have the same vision for Virginia on many issues.  However, today I feel the did the right thing.  Here is his email address if anyone wants to drop him a note:

[email protected]

I hope no one gives in to his or her childish instincts and says  [best third grade voice] “Well the Democrats do it to.”  they didn’t and if they do I plan to call them unprincipled sneaks also.