Virginia Senate Democrats made good Monday on their threat to sue Republicans to prevent Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling from casting deciding votes on important organizational issues when the new General Assembly convenes in January.
After Republicans gained two Senate seats in Novemeber, dividing the chamber 20 to 20, Bolling declared the GOP would operate the chamber as though they have a majority. That included naming Republicans committee chairs and giving them a majority of the members on each panel.
Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus Chair Donald McEachin came out in the days following and said his party would ask the courts to intervene, and on Monday a lawsuit was filed in Richmond City Circuit Court on behalf of the caucus.
“The voters elected 20 Democrats and 20 Republicans to the Senate. Yet, in spite of that, the Republicans choose to ignore these results and, instead, claim absolute power and authority,” said McEachin, D-Henrico. “This willingness to ignore the evenly divided results of the election is unfair and unacceptable.”
| Related Coverage |
|
|
Democrats contend that the state constitution allows only elected members of the Senate to vote on organizational matters. The lawsuit asks a judge to determine that Bolling can only break ties on legislation, and asks for a temporary injunction until the issue is decided. Copies of the lawsuit were provided to Bolling and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, according to Virginia Democrats.
Both parties agreed to share power during the last 20-20 split under a Democratic lieutenant governor from 1995 to 1999.
In a previous statement, Bolling said, “There is no credible argument against the lieutenant governor’s authority to cast votes on organizational matters and I am confident that the courts will agree.” But Bolling’s office said it is unclear whether the power applies to other non-policy tie votes, like the budget.
