Bolling urges GOP to focus on 'issues that matter most'

By: Jim Nolan | Richmond Times-Dispatch
Published: February 22, 2012

An onslaught of negative publicity surrounding bills restricting abortion, relaxing gun regulations and imposing new rules for voting has Republican leaders trying to regain control of their mandate to govern Virginia and control its legislative deliberations.

Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling stepped into the fray today with a letter to GOP lawmakers in both houses, gently urging them to re-emphasize conservative leadership in government reform, economic development, education and transportation over the contentious issues that have produced headline-grabbing floor speeches and late-night lampooning of Virginia's legislative direction.

"As you are well aware, during this year's legislative session there has been a concentrated effort on the part of some to suggest that our focus has been on other things," Bolling writes in the letter. "You and I know that this is not the case, but we need to be mindful of this effort because in politics perception can sometimes be reality."

Bolling, who presides over the Senate, also takes a shot at Senate Democrats, who have held out the prospect of holding up passage of the state budget if Republicans do not agree to some form of power sharing in the evenly divided chamber.

Democrats want equal representation on key committees and a joint chairmanship of the powerful Senate Finance Committee. Republicans, with Bolling's tiebreaking vote, control the Senate and its committees, but the state Constitution does not allow a lieutenant governor to break a tie on the budget bill.

"Ironically, it is now these same voices that are threatening to hold the budget hostage, blocking our ability to invest in the core responsibilities of state government, even though we have done our best to accommodate their concerns in the budget," Bolling writes.

"As we enter the final days of the 2012 General Assembly session, I hope you will join me in continuing to focus our attention on the issues that matter most to the people of Virginia.

"If we keep our focus firmly fixed on these important issues, we will do well," Bolling continues. "We will remind the people of Virginia why they entrusted us to lead our state, and we will better position our state for the future."