Va House Speaker William Howell a Pragmatic Republican Will Not Run Again
House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford), left, confers with Del. S. Chris Jones (R-Suffolk) during the 2017 session of the Virginia Business firm of Delegates. (Bob Chocolate-brown/AP)
RICHMOND — Speaker William J. Howell, a pragmatic Republican who has presided over Virginia'south fractious House of Delegates for 15 sessions and spent the last 4 equally a thorn in Gov. Terry McAuliffe's side, will not seek reelection in November.
Howell, 73, announced his determination Mon in emotional remarks in the ornate Firm sleeping room, with his wife of 50 years, Cessie, and other family members looking on.
"I take really enjoyed serving in this esteemed body," Howell said. "It has truly been the greatest professional honor of my life."
Even before information technology was officially appear, Howell's plan to retire at the end of his term in January fix off a competition between two delegates to replace him at the captain of the overwhelmingly GOP-majority chamber.
House Majority Leader M. Kirkland Cox (Colonial Heights) and Del. Terry Yard. Kilgore (Scott) worked quietly over the by calendar week to line up support for their rival bids to supersede Howell (Stafford), according to two Republicans familiar with their efforts. They spoke on the status of anonymity to discuss internal conclave matters.
Kilgore has since withdrawn. "I just didn't think it was the right fourth dimension for me," he said. Cox declined to comment, proverb that "this is the speaker's day."
The Firm GOP caucus is expected to proper name Cox its speaker-designee in a close-door meeting Wednesday.
House members on both sides of the aisle praised Howell on the floor not but for his political leadership but also for a quick wit that could defuse tense situations and for a sense of personal friendship.
"I remember after I called my parents, y'all're the beginning person I called later on I adopted my kid, that'southward how much I think of you," said Del. David B. Albo (R-Fairfax), his vocalism breaking. "You are proof, Mr. Speaker, that nice guys can finish commencement."
Firm Minority Leader David Toscano (D-Charlottesville) praised Howell for continuing up to his own party on an off-year redistricting scheme in 2013. Senate Republicans had tacked an entirely redrawn country Senate map onto a pecker calling for pocket-sized "technical adjustments" to Firm districts. Howell ruled it out of social club, a move that infuriated some Republicans.
[From the archives: Fasten of Virginia redistricting plans shows House speaker's pragmatic streak]
"Yous are truly a historic effigy in this chamber and in this Capitol," said Toscano, adding that the speaker is alike to a judge. "The skillful judges are the ones who permit you endeavor your case. . . . You let u.s.a. try our cases, and we thank you for that."
Howell'south relationship with McAuliffe (D) has been strained, despite their shared history as dealmakers and McAuliffe's efforts to woo the speaker over craft beer in the Executive Mansion.
Howell has used his position — amid the most powerful in state government — to assistance thwart many of the governor's biggest goals, including the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Human action, the date of a state Supreme Courtroom justice and the blanket restoration of voting rights to more than than 200,000 felons.
With a lawsuit filed last year to cake the restoration of felons' voting rights, Howell became the commencement speaker in the history of the republic to successfully challenge a governor's executive society in court.
[Va. loftier courtroom invalidates McAuliffe'south order restoring felon voting rights]
"On behalf of the people of Virginia, I want to thank Speaker Bill Howell for his outstanding service to Virginia," McAuliffe said in a statement. "I have tremendous respect for the Speaker and the professional and dignified style he led the Firm throughout his tenure. I wish him the very best in his retirement."
Howell is Virginia'south second-longest-serving speaker, behind Democrat Edgar Blackburn Moore, who held the post from 1950 to 1968.
Deemed "the accidental speaker" because he assumed the role in January 2003 after S. Vance Wilkins resigned amid a sexual harassment scandal, Howell instituted a number of reforms, including bringing some strictness and objectivity to rules governing what tin can be ruled in and out of society.
A member of the House since 1988, Howell was one of four delegates to beginning a prayer group that still meets at 7 a.m. every Wed during the session. He has been a conservative on social problems such as abortion.
But he too sought to keep a lid on some hot-button bills after they consumed the 2012 legislative session. Del. Robert K. Marshall (R-Prince William), one of the chamber'due south almost vocal conservatives, oft complained that Howell had some of his bills quietly killed off in committees to avoid controversy. An example of that this yr was Marshall's ill-fated measure to require transgender people to use the public bathroom that corresponds with the sex on their nativity certificates.
[Va. lawmaker presses fellow Republicans on transgender 'bathroom bill']
Howell has primarily focused on promoting business organisation-friendly policies. And he has been willing to cut deals to get things washed — sometimes to the chagrin of more ideologically driven Republicans.
Among those deals were some involving McAuliffe's predecessors. Howell spoke out against Democrat Mark R. Warner'due south $one.6 billion tax hike only quietly instructed a few Republicans to skip a committee vote so that the beak would go the House floor. Despite his distaste for Democrat Tim Kaine's smoking ban, he struck a deal in that location as well. He signed on to the transportation program of Republican Robert F. McDonnell, even after the legislation was amended into the largest taxation hike in Virginia history.
"Information technology's really Pecker Howell's greatest legacy," said Del. Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax), referring to the transportation funding measure. "We'd still take smoking in restaurants for that affair."
A wills and trusts lawyer who practices in a log cabin on the Rappahannock River, Howell assumed the speakership at a time when his political party enjoyed a slim bulk in the 100-seat sleeping room. Their numbers swelled as high as 68 during his tenure, which also saw the adoption of a 2011 redistricting map favorable to Republicans. 2 lawsuits — 1 earlier the U.S. Supreme Court, the other earlier a state circuit courtroom — challenged the constitutionality of the maps.
Presiding over that growing majority became tricky with the rising of more than conservative, tea-political party-affiliated members, who looked askance at Howell's businesslike streak.
In 2014, some conservative Republicans said they feared that Howell was secretly on lath with McAuliffe's program to expand Medicaid equally they pushed for a budget amendment that they thought was needed to tie the governor's hands. The speaker had called the amendment unnecessary but somewhen got on board. McAuliffe later acknowledged that the amendment blocked a loophole that he had intended to use to aggrandize Medicaid unilaterally.
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/va-house-speaker-william-howell-a-pragmatic-republican-will-not-run-again/2017/02/20/024c9eb6-f76d-11e6-be05-1a3817ac21a5_story.html