Kaine loses House vote for LeBlanc

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

Governor angry as Republicans take unprecedented action and deny secretary appointee

http://timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137834573998

<snip>

In what Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine decried as "McCarthy-style politics," the Republican-controlled House of Delegates yesterday rejected former union leader Daniel G. LeBlanc as secretary of the commonwealth. The House voted 55-42 along party lines to strip LeBlanc, a former president of the Virginia AFL-CIO, from the list of agency heads and other key positions nominated by Kaine -- an unprecedented action.

Two of the House's independents, Dels. Watkins M. Abbitt Jr. of Appomattox County and Katherine B. Waddell of Richmond, sided with the chamber's 40 Democrats in support of LeBlanc. Del. Robert J. Wittman Jr., R-Westmoreland, abstained, later citing "legal reasons."

LeBlanc's appointment had been unanimously approved late last month by the Senate, where efforts by conservative Republicans to remove his name were rebuffed. The governor must now appoint someone else to the Cabinet-level position that oversees patronage jobs.

The House Republican caucus took a position against the appointment in a special meeting yesterday morning before the House Privileges and Elections Committee voted 13-8 in a partisan split to remove LeBlanc's name from the list of appointees. The Virginia legislature has never rejected a governor's choice of Cabinet secretary or key agency head, he said.

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Read the article for more pettiness.

[autorank]

1. So much for the "cooperative" aproach. Kaine needs to know that

these guys are not "cooperators." They are zealots. The only path is to get a Democratic majority in the House of Delegates. He can do that in NoVA, convert a few Republicans and so forth.

No Mr. Nice guy. Those days are over. The House Republicans are not nice;)

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

2. That's for sure.

Check out this little "gem" from the article:

The acrimony spilled into other arenas. Kaine was initially disinvited yesterday from last night's annual basketball game between the legislative and executive branches when the game was reorganization as a House-Senate contest. But then a Republican delegate called and said there was misunderstanding and invited the governor to play with the team of his choice.

Kaine turned down the invitation.

[autorank]

3. About time this happened. I'm sick of this "trading with the enemy"

approach. I'm very glad Kaine won. The altetnative was just awful. I was ready to move out of the state. At the same time, they stood by and let Deeds get screwed in a recount that didn't recount a damn vote. Talk about the fix being in. What a joke. And we didn't fight that. In fact, one of the very worst Secretaries of State in the country is a Democrat running Virginia elections. She doesn't think that paper ballots and an audit trail are necessary. What a joke.

No Mr. Nice Guy. Let's kicke it into high gear, take it back in 2006!

:hi:

[kegler14]

4. The day before this travesty

Morgan Griffith was quoted on the Roanoke paper giving Kaine a hard time for making comments that made bipartisanship difficult. WHAT!!! Morgan Griffith!!! Mr. Partisan himself??? And then this!!

What an a--.

[metisnation]

5. Better now than later

Kaine is going to get what he wants and he found out who his true allies are in one simple move. Now the public knows that the majority of their reps are not interested in protecting family rights. Keep in mind that the reason LeBlanc was denied was because he was arrested for protecting the rights of coal miners to organize. Lest the judgement come upon those who spat in the face of working families of the Commonwealth of Virgina. Kaine is for the people by the people. The House of Delegates just bit the hand the feeds them.

:dem: