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By Michael Martz
February 08, 2010 6:16 PM
Tim Kaine never missed an opportunity as governor to appear before elected officials from localities across Virginia who gather every winter for Legislative Day in Richmond. After all, he was a former Richmond mayor and councilman.
His successor, Bob McDonnell, is passing up his first chance as governor to appear at the event, scheduled at noon on Thursday at the Richmond Marriott Hotel by the Virginia Municipal League and Virginia Association of Counties.
Press Secretary Stacey Johnson said the governor won’t be there because a scheduling conflict.
McDonnell’s director of policy, Eric Finkbeiner, was supposed to go instead, but he cancelled late Friday afternoon, according to VACo Executive Director Jim Campbell. Instead, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli will appear at the noon legislative briefing for the two organizations. (Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling isn’t available because he’s presiding over the Senate then.)
The substitution, which Johnson said she knew nothing about, matters to the hundreds of local officials who will gather for the briefing. They want to know how much state aid they are going to lose in the next two years as McDonnell looks for an additional $1.9 billion in cuts on top of the $2.3 billion that Kaine proposed cutting before leaving office. Finkbeiner is in a position to know the details of the administration’s budget plans, which it has held closely.
VML and VACo officials are being diplomatic about the substitution. After all, they are getting face time with McDonnell in a private meeting on Thursday afternoon. “We’re certainly going to talk about the budget while we’re in there,” said VML Executive Director Michael Amyx, who will be accompanied by Campbell and the local officials who currently are presiding over the organizations.
They regard the budget crisis as a challenge shared by state and local government, so they are a little mystified that McDonnell is passing up a chance to reach out to local officials directly. “We see this an an excellent opportunity to address 400 to 500 elected officials all trying to work to the same mission,” Campbell said. “To me, it’s a missed opportunity.”
Deal of the Day
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