Virginia Senate Democrats today filed suit to stop Republicans from organizing as the majority party by using Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling to cast a tie-breaking vote.
"The voters elected 20 Democrats and 20 Republicans to the Senate. Yet, in spite of that, the Republicans choose to ignore these results and, instead, claim absolute power and authority," said Sen. A. Donald McEachin , D-Henrico.
"This willingness to ignore the evenly divided results of the election is unfair and unacceptable."
The 20-20 split follows the pickup of two seats by the GOP in the November elections.
The day after their victory, top Republicans in the Senate, led by Bolling, asserted that they were the majority party by virtue of the fact that Bolling, who presides over the senate as lieutenant governor but is not a member, can cast tie-breaking votes.
Democrats, however, assert that the Virginia Constitution only allows members to cast votes on organization, and that the tie-breaking prerogative reserved for the lieutenant governor only applies to legislative matters.
According to a release by the Virginia Senate Democratic caucus, the lawsuit seeks a declaratory judgment affirming that a lieutenant governor does not have the constitutional right to cast a vote breaking the expected tie about how the Senate organizes.
The suit also seeks a temporary injunction preventing Bolling from voting on organization until the issue is resolved.
With elected Senate membership split bewteen parties, Democrats have said there should be power sharing of committee chairmanships -- a position Republicans have rejected.
"In a 20-20 Senate, power should be shared, but, instead, the Republicans insist on an arrogant power grab," McEachin said in a statement.
Organizing is key to wielding power and control in the Senate, because it allows the majority party to appoint chairmen and members to committees who exert influence over what legislation is considered and stack votes in its favor.
Demcorats provided copies of the lawsuit were provided to Bolling and Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who could be asked to issue a legal opinion on the matter.
Bolling this afternoon reasserted his position that the lieutenant governor has the authority to break ties on procedural and organizational matters before the Senate, not just on legislation.
"It's unfortunate that we're seeing a pattern out of the Senate Democrats to resort and accomplish through the courts what they were unable to accomplish in the election," Bolling said.
(This has been a breaking news update. Read more in tomorrow's Richmond Times-Dispatch.)
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