Just hours after Senator Chuck Colgan, the most senior member of the State Senate and longtime Democrat condemns the actions of refusing to hear bills shot down in subcommittee, Ben Tribbett over at Not Larry Sabato [1] rushes to Janet Howell’s defense:
First of all, there was no “rule breaking” as RPV alleged. In fact- guess where the rule that was used to not hear these bills came from?
Got your guess ready?
It was the Republicans! GOP Senate Leader Tommy Norment stood up and requested… no he implored Senate Democrats to add this rule to allow the Senate to kill bills in subcommittee to speed up the legislative process.
So have the Senate rules changed? Of course they haven’t. Newsflash: Norment is wrong too.
…and unlike Howell, Norment at least offered an explanation for his reasoning better than “because I said so.”
So instead of apologizing for “because I said so” as a baseball bat for refusing to hear bills in committee, Democrats are going to rush to Howell’s defense with the foil of Tommy Norment? Sorry class… doesn’t wash.
Howell needs to resign as P&E chairman. “Because I said so” is no reason to violate years of accepted tradition, decorum, and civility in the Virginia Senate — not to mention the rules of the committee. Senator Colgan was absolutely correct… and I’m astonished that Democrats would allow bloggers of the other side to trash Colgan’s legacy to protect Howell’s chairmanship — a position she clearly cannot handle and does not merit.
(crossposted to SK.com)