By Bob Gibson
Daily Progress political blogger
All 140 members of the General Assembly are now late enough with the budget that they, too, will be able to share in the shad at Wakefield.
By not being able to finish the budget by midnight tonight, the veto override, or reconvened, session of the legislature will slip back to April 23 from its current April 16 date.
That means the 60th annual Shad Planking in Wakefield—featuring speeches by Alexandria Democrat Mark Warner and Richmond Republican Jim Gilmore and Del. Bob Marshall, R-Prince William County—will not conflict this year with the now sure-to-be-late veto session.
The bony fish and the would-be senators’ speeches to a free-beer crowd of political junkies is sure to attract legislators freed from the burden of casting votes on Gov. Tim Kaine’s vetoes and amendments to bills.
With the new date for the veto session coming a day after the April 22 Pennsylvania primary, Kaine may not gain as much face time in the Keystone State campaigning with Barack Obama in the week running up to the primary.
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Posted by ( ) on March 13, 2008 at 8:05 am
Ben,
Rules are made to be broken, apparently, and Sen. Harry F. Byrd Jr. and his Southside allies no longer set the linup of speakers to reflect and signal their choices for future statewide runs.
Women and black Virginians attend the Shad Planking now in enough numbers to make the event look very little like its old self.
If the lineup of speakers for this April had been set back to last year for the 2008 Senate race, it wouldn’t have been Bob Marshall with Jim Gilmore and Mark Warner. Virginia is just a little less predictable now that its voters are a two-party purple population.
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Posted by ( ) on March 12, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Didn’t the rule with speakers used to be that, if you were running for office that year, you weren’t allowed to speak? Maybe I remember incorrectly. Do you remember?
Incidentally, the shad run up the James river has been great this year so there should be no shortage of bones this year (of course the shad now are all farm grown I think.) -Ben M.
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