Lost voices in Richmond, lost clout for Hampton Roads

RICHMOND

Hampton Roads will suffer a brain drain of sorts when the local General Assembly delegation returns to Richmond this winter with a contingent that includes some legislative novices.

The loss of three key leaders from the region - Dels. Phil Hamilton and Kenneth Melvin and state Sen. Kenneth Stolle - creates a power vacuum that the newcomers and returning veterans alike will have to fill.

"These guys were senior members of the legislature," said Ira Agricola, senior vice president of government affairs for the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce.

"They had institutional knowledge," he said. "They had long-term credibility in terms of their knowledge base within their given subject

areas.... They represent a tremendous loss to the commonwealth and to the region. There's no two ways about it."

Hamilton had served 21 years in the legislature until resigning from the House of Delegates last month amid an ethics scandal and after losing to Democrat Robin Abbott, a consumer-rights attorney in Newport News making her first bid for office.

Hamilton was vice chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, a state budget negotiator and one of the legislature's foremost experts on mental disabilities.

With his departure, Hampton Roads, the state's second-largest region, will have just one budget negotiator - Del. Johnny Joannou, D-Portsmouth - if the current House and Senate lineups remain constant.

An aide to House Speaker Bill Howell, R-Stafford, said recently that his boss considers "geographic diversity" on all committees, including Appropriations and the select group of budget conferees, when assignments are made.

Dana Dickens, president of the Hampton Roads Partnership, said that with the region already missing out on its "fair share" of state resources, those assurances don't offer a lot of comfort.

"Part of what will happen, unfortunately, in this vacuum is it will be more difficult for Hampton Roads to get that fair share," he said. "The loss of these gentlemen in the positions they were in will make it more difficult for Hampton Roads to catch up to the rest of the state."

Unlike Hamilton, Melvin and Stolle left the legislature of their own accord - Melvin to become a Circuit Court judge in Portsmouth and Stolle to serve as Virginia Beach sheriff.

A lawyer by training, Melvin was first elected to the House in 1985.

He was known as one of the more talented orators in the chamber.

His fingerprints are on a law that prohibit legislators from raising campaign cash during the General Assembly session and a state program that provides health insurance to children in need.

His replacement is Del.-elect Matthew James, a Portsmouth Democrat and political newcomer with experience in work-force and economic development.

Stolle also is a lawyer turned lawmaker, though he came to the legislature in 1992 after a career in public safety. It was in that arena that he built his reputation as a maneuvering legislator capable of brokering complex deals or scuttling them.

A special election to fill his Senate seat is scheduled for Jan. 12.

Despite those departures, Hampton Roads has plenty of accomplished legislators who remain in the General Assembly.

In the House, Virginia Beach Republican Dels. Bob Purkey and Bob Tata chair the Finance and Education committees, respectively. Suffolk Republican Del. Chris Jones leads the General Laws Committee, through which the bill to ban smoking inside restaurants advanced this year.

Other locals with important voices are Dels. Kenny Alexander, D-Norfolk, who chairs the Legislative Black Caucus; John Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake; and Glenn Oder, R-Newport News.

Across the hall from the House, Sens. Yvonne Miller, D-Norfolk; Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth; and Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, have key roles as committee chairwomen.

Stolle's former desk mate, Sen. Tommy Norment, R-James City County, is the Senate minority leader and a veteran of the legislative machinations common in Richmond.

As debates about energy sources and production techniques arise, Republican Sen. Frank Wagner, who will be Virginia Beach's senior senator, is certain to have a leading voice.

However challenging, turnover is just another reality of the political process that must be adapted to, said lobbyist H. Benson Dendy III, whose Vectre Corp. does work for the city of Portsmouth and Sentara.

"I think if you look back over the years the void is usually filled," Dendy said, "and a lot of times quicker than you would anticipate."

Julian Walker, (804) 697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com