RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia lawmakers elected a handful of local judges Wednesday but failed yet again to fill a vacancy on the powerful State Corporation Commission, which regulates a wide range of business interests.
The lack of action during the politically divided General Assembly's one-day special session in Richmond means the long-running impasse will continue to drag on, possibly for months.
“I’m disappointed. I mean, we pushed this from June to give ourselves enough time to do some vetting and and come up with with a mutually agreed-upon candidate,” said Democratic Sen. Scott Surovell, who was involved in negotiations with the GOP-controlled House and said discussions fell apart at the last minute.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw declined to answer questions about the appointment or related negotiations.
“They have their preferences, and we have ours,” GOP House Speaker Todd Gilbert told reporters.
The spot on the three-member commission is vacant because House Republicans let the appointment of commissioner Angela Navarro expire earlier this year amid a broader fight over political appointees of Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Youngkin's predecessor, Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, appointed Navarro, a former environmental attorney and member of his administration, to the job.
The process for filling the role has proceeded with minimal transparency.
Lawmakers have not made public the full list of candidates under consideration, and no preliminary interviews have been conducted publicly.
The SCC's purview includes the regulation of utilities, insurance, state-chartered financial institutions, railroad safety and other matters. Its two commissioners are currently considering Dominion Energy's massive offshore wind farm, which the company says would be the country's largest.
Gilbert said he expects lawmakers will have a better chance at reaching consensus on the matter when they return in person in January for next year's regular session.
“With everybody spread out over the summer, especially, it was really hard, I think, to find consensus on an agreed-upon candidate," he said.
Both chambers approved four candidates for local judgeships, and Gilbert set a special election for Jan. 10 to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Mark Keam, a Democratic delegate from a solidly blue northern Virginia district who recently took a job with the Biden administration.
Lawmakers also confirmed appointments to various state boards and reshuffled some committee assignments.
Several Democrats gave floor speeches criticizing Youngkin's decision to campaign Wednesday in Maine with Republican Paul LePage, a former governor known for his offensive rhetoric and combative leadership who is seeking a third nonconsecutive term.
LePage has a long history of making controversial remarks, and made national news in 2016 in part for suggesting out-of-state drug dealers were impregnating “young white” girls and saying “the enemy” in the fight against drugs was “people of color or people of Hispanic origin.”
House Minority Leader Don Scott said Youngkin was “playing footsies” with an “unabashed racist.”
“To be going to Maine, to stand with a person like that today, while we’re here working — shameful,” he said.
Republicans defended the governor. Gilbert suggested Democrats would find anything to complain about. And Sen. David Suetterlein responded by taking a shot at Northam.
“I wish that our previous governor had been invited to speak in more states. Unfortunately, he instead appeared on ‘Saturday Night Live,'” Suetterlein said, in a reference to an episode that skewered Northam amid the 2019 scandal over a racist photo that appeared in his medical school yearbook.
Youngkin told reporters last week that he was unaware of any “racially inflammatory statements" by LePage, The Washington Post reported.
