The big picture. It's a concept that gets a lot of lip service in Richmond and Washington, and often rightfully so. When you're talking about budgets of $78 billion or $3 trillion, respectively, fine details are often the first casualty.
But a series of e-mails from the Republicans in the Virginia Senate have contained a tiny change as of late, a change whose importance was illustrated both in the weekend vote to send the Senate budget to the floor for a vote and this incident last week.
The Virginia Senate Republican Leadership Trust, a de facto caucus that first registered as a political action committee in 2004, has gone the way of the dinosaur.
During its heyday, the Trust was made up of Republicans from the powerful Senate Finance Committee, led by Senate President Pro Tempore John Chichester, R-Fredericksburg. E-mail from the Trust always carried a tag at the bottom with its members listed -- and conservative members such as Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax, and Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, were notably absent.
After the retirement of Chichester and Sen. H. Russell Potts, Jr., R-Winchester, and the defeat of some other Trust members in the November election, the GOP tent seems to have gotten a little bit bigger. Now all GOP members of the Senate are listed, and the "Trust" has been replaced by the "Virginia Senate Republican Caucus."
What it all means in "the big picture" remains to be seen, but one thing is certain — the 2008 budget fight is shaping up to be a whole new animal.
But a series of e-mails from the Republicans in the Virginia Senate have contained a tiny change as of late, a change whose importance was illustrated both in the weekend vote to send the Senate budget to the floor for a vote and this incident last week.
The Virginia Senate Republican Leadership Trust, a de facto caucus that first registered as a political action committee in 2004, has gone the way of the dinosaur.
During its heyday, the Trust was made up of Republicans from the powerful Senate Finance Committee, led by Senate President Pro Tempore John Chichester, R-Fredericksburg. E-mail from the Trust always carried a tag at the bottom with its members listed -- and conservative members such as Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax, and Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, were notably absent.
After the retirement of Chichester and Sen. H. Russell Potts, Jr., R-Winchester, and the defeat of some other Trust members in the November election, the GOP tent seems to have gotten a little bit bigger. Now all GOP members of the Senate are listed, and the "Trust" has been replaced by the "Virginia Senate Republican Caucus."
What it all means in "the big picture" remains to be seen, but one thing is certain — the 2008 budget fight is shaping up to be a whole new animal.
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