VA Senate Power Shift? — Deal Now Off
Via RPV Chairman / Del. Jeff Frederick via Twitter update:
“Big news coming out of Senate: Apparently one dem is either switching or leaving the dem caucus. Negotiations for power sharing underway.”
UPDATE: Is Sen. Ralph Northam switching parties?
UPDATE 2: Jim Geraghty from National Review Online’s Campaign Spot knows about as much as we do at this point, but it sounds as if something big is in the works.
UPDATE 3: Is the deal off now? Did someone in the Senate jump the gun leaking this news?
UPDATE 4: The deal is indeed now off. Dem. Maj. Leader Dick Saslaw recessed, Senate Dems proceeded to pile on Northam and he caved.
UPDATE 5: Apparently this deal had been in the works for 2 weeks and had been about to be sealed when it fell apart.
UPDATE 6: NRO’s Campaign Spot shares this reader-provided headline, “Loose Twits Sink Shifts.” Clever, but we don’t know that to be the case for sure.
UPDATE 7: According to Maj. Ldr. Morgan Griffith, it wasn’t Twitter, but a twit — Gov. Timmy! — that put Northam back in line with the Dems.
From: “H. Morgan Griffith”
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2009 18:24:15 -0500
Subject: Today’s events in the SenateRepresentatives from the Senate Republican Caucus informed several members of our House Caucus today about what they characterized as an imminent power-sharing agreement. In addition, it was indicated to members of our Caucus, myself included, that this information was already known and was public.
I suggested to Chairman Frederick that he get the word out, minus the details. Jeff did not post anything other than an unnamed D was looking at leaving their caucus and power sharing negotiations were underway.
There is no reason to believe that Delegate Frederick’s posting on Twitter, which happened several hours into the day’s activities in the Senate, affected the outcome. Perhaps, it was the visit by the wavering democrat with the Governor of the Democratic National Committee. Regardless it is clear that the partisan makeup of the Virginia Senate is tenuous. Morgan Griffith
19 Responses to “VA Senate Power Shift? — Deal Now Off”
seems a little sensitive for the party chairman to be posting on his facebook. Hope he’s not screwing the pooch here and going to scare said dem back to the fold…
Sorry, he actually posted it via Twitter and it showed up on his Facebook page.
same difference
jeff frederick is an idiot. he screwed the party with his big mouth. this was a done deal and was going to be announced on the senate floor until that jackass told the world.
[...] DEUX: Virginia Virtucon tells us that the deal was in the works for 2 weeks, and fell apart in the closing [...]
[...] Republican, presented with a chance to swing the Virginia Senate to Republican control, can’t keep his mouth shut for a few hours and ensures control of the Virginia Senate will remains with the [...]
The Phantom is prophetic as well apparently.
From Senator Mark Obenshain’s facebook post:
Notwithstanding the fact that today is crossover day – the very busy final day for each chamber to act on its own bills — the session began about 4 hours later than planned. There was almost an outbreak of good government, but that was narrowly averted. Whew! Here’s what happened. There has been bipartisan concern expressed over the leadership and operation of the Senate Finance and Courts Committees. The concern came to a head today. Notwithstanding the fact that there are 19 Republican Senators and 21 Democrats, we began the day with enough Senators to reorganize these two committees – naming as co-chairs of those Committees Senators Wampler and Stolle – both Republicans – effectively forcing bipartisan cooperation in the running of these two critical committees. After 4 hours of meetings behind closed doors and with the Governor, the threat of bipartisanship passed, partisan fever and the status quo prevailed. Although the impasse was abbreviated, it should be noted that it took great courage and principle for someone to stand up to his party’s leadership. Governor Kaine, as Chair of DNC, flexed his muscle today – successfully. It is a sign of the increased partisan power he will bring to the Capitol in his new position – and it has come at the expense of good government.
Word from my sources.
http://roanokevalleyrepublicans.blogspot.com/2009/02/did-jeff-frederick-cost-republicans.html
Interesting. I’m sure that there is a lot more to this story that no one knows yet, some of which we may never know.
[...] The Senate Not Larry Sabato: Social Media Saves Senate For Democrats Virginia Virtucon: VA Senate Power Shift? — Deal Now Off 2009 10 [...]
This is great news for Republicans! Now we can finally rid ourselves of this embarassment and get a competent Chairman. With plenty of time to spare before November.
“Representatives from the Senate Republican Caucus informed several members of our House Caucus today about what they characterized as an imminent power-sharing agreement. In addition, it was indicated to members of our Caucus, myself included, that this information was already known and was public.
I suggested to Chairman Frederick that he get the word out, minus the details. Jeff did not post anything other than an unnamed D was looking at leaving their caucus and power sharing negotiations were underway.
There is no reason to believe that Delegate Frederick’s posting on Twitter, which happened several hours into the day’s activities in the Senate, affected the outcome. Perhaps, it was the visit by the wavering democrat with the Governor of the Democratic National Committee. Regardless it is clear that the partisan makeup of the Virginia Senate is tenuous.”
Morgan Griffith
[...] to our state’s most pressing problems. But one of them almost became a Republican today. Jim Riley broke the news earlier this afternoon that Del. Jeff Frederick was tweeting that there was [...]
[...] proceeded to pile on Northam and he caved,” according to a conservative political blog called Virginia Virtucon. The National Review adds that according to a source, the premature release of the information via [...]
Sadly I think it shows how our party doesn’t understand how to fight a information war. Republican Party != New Media. People we need to get our collective heads out our butts and start fighting these battles smartly. If anything this goes to show a point I made to our entire party before the state convention that a sitting delegate should not and cannot be the party chairman. He is way too personally invested. Even if his wife runs for the seat everything he does ties back to her and vice versa. I’ve wanted to say this for the longest time but…
I TOLD YOU SO!!!!
[...] one of them almost became a Republican today. Jim Riley broke the news earlier this afternoon that Del. Jeff Frederick was tweeting that there was “big [...]
It’s unclear who instigated this twittering. It’s also unclear if this really did nix the shift. But I don’t see the advantage of telling the world, which includes the opposition, a deal is almost, but not quite, done.
[...] because State Senator Ralph Northam was indeed planning to switch parties, however during a recess, “Senate Dems proceeded to pile on Northam and he [...]
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