Bob Hull's Richmond Report

A Pick-Up in Norfolk

Last Tuesday brought joyous news to my fellow Democrats in the General Assembly. We took a Republican seat in a special election. In November, GOP Delegate Thelma Drake won a congressional seat, becoming the third woman ever elected to Congress in Virginia. She vacated her position in the House of Delegates, setting up a special election in the 87th district in Norfolk on December 14. It was like my experience 12 years ago when I ran in a December special election on December 15 in the 38th district following the election of the first Virginia woman elected to Congress, Leslie Byrne.

Like me in 1992, this year's special election yielded a Democratic victory as Democrat Paula Miller, a former Norfolk television news anchor, beat Drake's hand-picked successor. Middle-of-the-Road

The Republican candidate ran on a ticket of returning state tax surpluses and cutting taxes on cars, real estate, and gross business receipts.

You know that old anti-tax refrain: “I can give you government services that cost you nothing.” They have been playing that song for the past four years in Washington.

Democrat Miller, on the other hand, used a unique gimmick reminiscent of Harry Truman: she ran on telling the voters the truth. She endorsed the modest tax increases requested by Governor Warner and approved in the special legislative session this year. What's more, she said that what was needed in Richmond was bipartisan cooperation to get traffic moving, keep neighborhoods safe, and maintain strong schools.

In a district tailor-made for the GOP incumbent, Republicans crossed lines to elect a moderate Democrat who believed more in problem-solving than spouting rhetoric.

I am looking forward to working with her in the upcoming General Assembly session because I like the side of the road on which she will drive to Richmond.

Eavesdropping Settlement

Just before going to trial earlier this month, the Republican Party of Virginia and four other GOP operatives agreed to one of the largest settlements of its kind.

They announced a $750,000 settlement in a federal lawsuit against them over conspiring to violate federal wiretapping laws. I am one of 33 plaintiffs in this case because I was a participant in two telephone conference calls in 2002 between state Democrats and our attorneys.

The calls were intercepted, recorded, transcribed, and distributed to others by the then-Executive Director of the Republican Party of Virginia.

He and three others pleaded guilty to this federal misdemeanor and were sentenced by a federal judge. He was an attorney and was also disbarred for his actions.

The calls concerned a case we filed against the state for the 2001 legislative redistricting. We won the case in circuit court and we wanted to discuss our strategy in a possible appeal.

Affirmative Obligation

Potentially, the five defendants in the settled lawsuit could have been subject to $3.3 million in statutory damages and an unknown amount of punitive damages.

It is clear that they settled for such a large sum of money because they did not think that they could defend themselves against our charges.

What made it even worse politically from their standpoint was that Attorney General Kilgore, the presumptive GOP nominee for governor next year, would be called to the stand.

In a deposition to our lawyers, he admitted that one of his chief aides was about to tell him that she knew of the illegal wiretapping. He admitted to telling her to stop talking and call his chief counsel about any violation of the law. From then on, he did nothing at all. He did nothing even though, as an attorney, he is an officer of the court and has an obligation to report a violation of the law. He did nothing even though, as Attorney General of Virginia, he is the chief law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth. I believe that in that position he has an absolute affirmative obligation to uncover and report criminal acts. What is worse is that this involved intercepting attorney-client privileged communications.

What has gone unanswered in all of this is whether any of the attorneys in his office, who were defending the state against our lawsuit, knew about any of our conversations in 2002. Delegate Bob Hull may be emailed at del_hull@house.state.va.us