Schapiro: Howell, business group kiss and make up — not

They didn't debate the shape of the table.

House Republicans and Virginia FREE, a prominent nonpartisan business advocacy group, are talking, nudged by Gov. Bob McDonnell to end a bitter feud rooted in politics, policy and personality that's been raging for eight years.

The dispute, which reflects continuing tension between the GOP's ascendant populist wing and Republican-leaning economic elites, could go on a little longer — McDonnell's personal intervention notwithstanding.

At his Stafford law office — it's a restored log house overlooking the Rappahannock River — Speaker Bill Howell met last week with Virginia FREE Chairman Julien Patterson and the organization's president, Clayton Roberts.

Virginia FREE, in an e-mail Monday to its member corporations and their lobbyists, gushed that the session was "positive and promising," "candid and cordial" and a "very, very good first step toward reparations."

Howell isn't so sure: "I don't remember it being that enthusiastic or positive. It wasn't a kumbaya moment."

Howell appeared to be grousing and gloating, annoyed by a Virginia FREE pronouncement that he considered premature, but amused that the group seemed to be groveling for his caucus' embrace.

Allow Howell his moment.

Thanks to gerrymandering, he is about to install a bruising House Republican majority, one that will endure beyond the close of his career, likely 2013, and is loyal to his heir apparent, Kirk Cox of Colonial Heights.

The relationship between House Republicans and Virginia FREE went from cooperative to crummy in 2003.

That year, for the first time, Virginia FREE graded the House GOP leadership lower than its Democratic counterpart on an annual report card that is largely based on roll-call votes on business issues. The report card had been a potent fundraising tool for Howell and others.

Republicans retaliated by boycotting Virginia FREE's candidate interviews and refusing to complete its questionnaire.

In 2008, Howell seethed over a very public scolding by Virginia FREE of the General Assembly for its failure to come up with new long-term funding for transportation.

Lost on the GOP: Virginia FREE's criticism was bipartisan. It was hurled as well at the Democratic Senate, whose appetite for more highway taxes is matched by the Republican House's preference for credit-card financing of roads.

In May, Virginia FREE held its spring luncheon in Northern Virginia concurrent with the House GOP's annual fundraiser. That presented Republicans with a Hobson's choice: snubbing the big-dollar lobbyists they were shaking down at The Homestead or snubbing the bigger-dollar executives they wanted to shake down in Tyson's Corner.

Republicans got mad and even. They refused to participate in Virginia FREE's candidate interviews last month. Their caucus blog tartly announced that nominees would be otherwise engaged with training classes.

That McDonnell suggested both sides schmooze rather than snipe speaks to the authority of the governor's office, respect for McDonnell as a party leader and an expectation that Virginia's chief executive will do business' bidding.

Further, it does McDonnell no good, as he's heading into the legacy-financing legislative session of his four-year term, for House Republicans to be trading cheap shots with his corporate constituency.

It's an unnecessary distraction, particularly if the GOP wins back the Senate, ensuring McDonnell maximum political leverage at the peak of his administration.

McDonnell is re-legitimizing Virginia FREE at a challenging point in its 23-year history. The group has lost members. It faces competition from a more vigorous Virginia Chamber of Commerce, which also apparently plans to grade legislators on business issues.

Besides, Virginia FREE has its big winter event in Richmond in December. It would be more fun if all Republicans were there. Depends on your definition of fun.