Gov. Bob McDonnell's second attempt to get Virginia out of the liquor business is dead, without legislators ever voting to kill it. The proposal isn't even on the agenda of the House panel with jurisdiction over alcohol sales.
Meanwhile, a consultant's report assigning blame for the August meltdown of the state computer network is two weeks overdue. Finger-pointing over findings has erupted between embattled info-tech contractor Northrop Grumman and state officials.
As Henry Howell, the populist Democrat who three times ran for governor, said of the off-stage activities of the rich and powerful who shape public policy, "There's more going around in the dark than Santa Claus and hanky-panky is its name!"
It is in the corners of the statehouse where some of the stickiest work of government is done. The less attention, the better. But for whom? Even the electorate occasionally is well-served by the discreet coup de grace to bills better dead than read.
On the failed shift to private sales of liquor, McDonnell succeeded only in putting pals on the spot. House Republicans didn't want to vote on the idea. Among the reasons: GOP strongholds such as the conservative countryside prefer the status quo. And lawmakers in both parties savor spending money spewed by a sure thing.
Delighted by the discomfort of House Republicans, Senate Democrats — specifically, rehab committee chair Toddy Puller — told McDonnell's office they wouldn't take up privatization until the House did. Two can play that game. Chris Jones exercised his prerogative as head of the House General Laws Committee, deciding, in effect, that the Senate should vote first.
This is a classic example of the legislature doing a lot by doing nothing.
The Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control remains intact — barring some effort by McDonnell, via executive fiat, to impose the near-beer version of privatization.
Legislators credit themselves with killing a controversial measure without leaving as much as a fingerprint. And potent opponents — beer and wine distributors and mom-and-pop retailers — can stalk other game.
As for the look-back at the computer catastrophe that paralyzed agencies for over a week, it's not just Northrop Grumman, which paid for the report as prima facie contrition, that has the jitters.
The debate over the report is roiling at the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, the Virginia Information Technologies Agency and the governor's office.
How tough the final version is could determine whether the public sours even more on Northrop Grumman, and asks what three governors — Mark Warner, Tim Kaine and, now, McDonnell — were drinking when toasting this exercise in privatization.
Contact Jeff E. Schapiro at (804) 649-6814. His column appears Wednesday and Sunday. Watch his video column Thursday on TimesDispatch.com. Follow him on Twitter.com/RTDSchapiro. Listen to his analysis Friday at 8:33 a.m. on WCVE (88.9 FM).
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