Oods and ends from the General Assembly

Jeff Schapiro
Published: March 11, 2008

Media General News Service

Fillets in one barrel, fish heads in another:

The cock crowed twice? Reggie Jones, lead lobbyist for payday lenders, apparently on two occasions appealed to one of the industry’s toughest critics, Del. Kenny Melvin, D-Portsmouth, to serve as lead sponsor of legislation cleaning up the high-cost, instant-loan biz. Melvin wanted no part of it. Jones, among the most skilled lawyer-lobbyists in town, knows that when it comes to legislation, it’s important to keep friends close but enemies closer.

Check ‘n Go, a big lender and one with a somewhat checkered reputation, given the $100,000 fine it paid for Virginia violations, approached a top lobbying firm before this year’s shootout. But McGuireWoods Consulting declined, siding with the Center for Responsible Lending, an opponent of payday lenders. Check ‘n Go hired veteran lobbyist Melanie Gerheart.

And they’re off?! Maybe because Colonial Downs’ second try at expanded gambling didn’t stand a chance, few, if any, lawmakers ever mentioned that it could have made the Jacobs family-owned track more attractive to potential buyers.

But those apparently eyeing the New Kent County track, one of the struggling also-rans of the turf world, are considering a different kind of gamble: plowing it under for housing. Lobbyists say at least one property company is interested in the track.

Standing down, arming up. Verizon quietly pulled its bill to strip the State Corporation Commission of a veto over the sale of telephone land lines. At the same time, the Communications Workers of America yanked its proposal preserving the SCC’s say in such deals.

Could this mean peace between bitter foes? If so, it’s contrived and temporary. Verizon and the CWA are readying for the rhetorical equivalent of war: contract negotiations.

A jump or a push? Larry Tarr retired rather than seek another six-year term on the three-member Workers’ Compensation Commission. But correspondence and conversations with legislators suggest Tarr, who did not return multiple calls, may not have had a choice.

Lawmakers quietly raised questions about issues that arose during his watch: $156,000 in settlements last year in workplace disputes with two former employees and allegedly inappropriate use of Internet-linked computers by commission staffers.

Oh, brother, where art thou? Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Scott, backed Henrico Circuit Judge Catherine Hammond for the State Corporation Commission. But he had to. House Republicans, individual preferences notwithstanding, are bound to a candidate once the majority caucus picks a nominee.

Kilgore’s twin brother, Jerry, had his own ideas. The lobbyist, former attorney general and one-time GOP gubernatorial candidate pushed for Rich Savage. He lobbies for a power company — among the businesses regulated by the SCC — and ran the criminal division when Jerry was in the AG’s office.

All in the family. Whitt Clement, a former delegate and transportation secretary, lobbied for a study of a possible uranium mine in Pittsylvania County, which he represented in the House. Clement had, by marriage, a personal tie to the venture: Walter Cole, one of the owners of the prospective mine, is Clement’s brother in-law.

Sen. Robert Hurt, a Pittsylvania Republican, is the son of a project investor.

Hurt backed a mine study after the Senate ethics advisory panel told him it wouldn’t be a conflict of interest for him to vote on the issue.

Contact Jeff E. Schapiro at (804) 649-6814 or . He provides news analysis each Friday at 8:33 a.m. on WCVE radio (88.9 FM).