McDonnell stretches his veto legs

Common whispers in Richmond was that Governor McDonnell was going to veto something this year. He picked an interesting, if odd and safe, vehicle to do so.

SB 966, Sen. Ralph Northam’s bill, required 150 minutes of physical education per week in public schools. McDonnell’s rational was that it was an unfunded mandate (like the SOLs?) and we wouldn’t want to add costs to local government.

The teachers’ union, Virginia Education Association, urged McDonnell to veto the bill. They complained that the bill would force localities to hire more teachers…..and they oppose that. Told you it was odd.

The bill flew through the Senate, but barely passed the House, and only with a lot of Republican support that is likely going to have an epiphany the first week of April. This bill is dead.

The fact that it was Freshman Senator Ralph Northam’s bill is a bit telling, too. Northam isn’t exactly the Senate Democrats’ favorite son, since the drama of former RPV Chair Jeff Frederick’s mistweet about a powershift in the Senate two years ago with Northam teaming with the GOP.

Plus the fact that Northam’s district has to grow substantially in redistricting, and adding Democrats would look like a difficult task.

Not that it was that liberal a district to begin with. McDonnell carried it with 58%, but Kaine won it 4 years earlier. It’s a bell weather district, and the wind has got a pretty rightward tilt right now.

So McDonnell’s veto was a nod to the Unions that will be upheld by the General Assembly and embarrasses a Democrat who has trouble with Democrats and represents a district he is very likely to lose.

Now, if the intent was to woo Northam to cross party lines officially, a veto ain’t the way to encourage that.

One has to wonder if this is the only veto we’ll see this session. Word is that the Governor is reading e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g with amendments aplenty on the way. More vetoes?

My guess is McDonnell doesn’t want to be the King of Vetoes. It’s not really his style. But let’s face it – Phys Ed in schools isn’t exactly the most pressing issue facing the commonwealth.

McDonnell’s playing small ball here. That’s fine for a while, but we’re just about done with 2 out of 4 General Assembly sessions McDonnell gets. Does he really want his legacy to be trying to sell ABC stores and battling over kids in gym class?

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