One of the original ideas behind the Cheap Seats blog was to have a conversation with our readers, giving them a chance to point out when we get things wrong.

Well, one of our readers is Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's press secretary Gordon Hickey, and he takes exception to the way a story over the weekend characterized Kaine's stand on Virginia's gas tax.

Hickey wrote in over the weekend and asked for a correction to this story, in particular with regard to this sentence:

While [Kaine] hasn't rolled out a specific proposal yet, Kaine has said he'd like to see the gas tax increased along with the sales tax on automobiles.

While Kaine has advocated for a higher sales tax on cars -- increasing the rate from 3 percent to 5 percent --he hasn't taken a position on increasing the 17-cent per gallon gasoline tax, according to Hickey.

In an absolute technical sense, that's true. Kaine has never said directly that he supports raising the gas tax. But Kaine has certainly talked about how low the tax is, how it is inadequate for the state's transportation needs and the need for the legislature to make an "investment" in transportation.

Here's Kaine speaking at town hall in Front Royal in March and on WRVA's "Ask the Governor" program last week.

In light of those comments, I asked Hickey twice whether the governor would sign a bill that came out of June's likely special session that included a gas tax hike. I got no answer either time. Hickey also declined the offer of a story clarifying Kaine's position on the gas tax once and for all.

So in conclusion, Kaine didn't specifically say he supports a gas tax hike, but he certainly aimed his remarks in that direction. As usual, there's a Cheap Seat with Gov. Kaine's name on it if he or his office decide they want to clarify his position on the gas tax.

We'll even buy the popcorn.
 

The Virginia Senate made quick work of a handful of changes proposed by Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine on Wednesday afternoon, but that's about all that was moving fast on Capitol Square.

Republicans in the House of Delegates and Democrats in the Senate took some extra time in the afternoon to hash out their strategy for how to deal with a raft of vacancies on the bench around the commonwealth.

Judges in Virginia are in most cases elected by legislature. When the House and Senate are controlled by the same party, judicial elections are generally a quiet affair. But now that the Democrats are in control of the upper chamber, the two sides have been a loggerheads for months over which slate of candidates will get to put on the black robes.

Among the seats in limbo are the one being vacated by Judge John McGrath of Rockingham County, who also sits in other counties in the 26th Judicial District, including all of the Northern Shenandoah Valley.

Early reports from legislators and idle chatter in the hallways of Mr. Jefferson's Capitol suggest that an agreement won't be forthcoming today.

Stay tuned...

UPDATE 10:07 p.m.

After hours of wrangling (enough wrangling, in fact, to cover the drive from Richmond to Strasburg, dinner and a bath for a hyper 4-year-old) the Senate and House of Delegates have agreed on a slate of judges, including attorney Thomas J. Wilson IV, of Harrisonburg, to fill Judge McGrath's seat.

If you listen closely, you can hear a rumbling in the distance. That's the sound of Virginia's whole political apparatus stirring from its months of slumber and preparing to head back to Richmond for tomorrow's reconvened session.

Both the Senate and House of Delegates will meet and deal with an unusually short list of amendments, as witnessed by the House and Senate calendars for the session.

Look for some minor fireworks over some of Kaine's budget amendments, but legislators and idle gossips alike say there could be a real blow-up over proposed amendments to Senate Bill 596. Find our background on the amendments here.

We'll also get our first look at the fight between House and Senate over hundreds of millions of dollars in bond funding for higher ed, state parks and hospitals in the second meeting of what has promised to be the first of two special sessions on the year.

See you in the galleries.

ABOARD CHEAP SEATS ONE -- Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax, may not be walking to the Republican nomination for attorney general unopposed.

U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia John L. Brownlee announced moments ago that he will be leaving his post as of May 16. He'll hold a press conference later today in Roanoke to elaborate on his decision.

Brownlee has oft been mentioned as a possible candidate for the state's highest legal office, but his resignation from federal office would be the first step down that road.

Is he running? We might find out later today.

This morning's decision in Baze v. Rees has legal circles in a flutter, and for good reason. Executions around the country had been placed on hold while the U.S. Supreme Court considered the constitutionality of lethal injection protocols used in Kentucky.

We'll post statements, developments and reactions here throughout the day as they hit the Cheap Seats inbox.

Gov. Kaine's statement via Press Secretary Gordon Hickey:

"In light of the Supreme Court ruling, executions will move forward according to the procedures that were in place prior to the Court's agreement to hear Baze last September. The Governor will continue to review any clemency requests on a case-by-case basis."

Republican Attorney General Bob McDonnell:

"The Supreme Court has rejected a procedural challenge to Kentucky's administration of lethal injection. Now that the Court has ruled, the Governor has rightly lifted his moratorium on executions in Virginia. This office will continue, as always, to defend the Commonwealth's authority to carry out the sentences handed down by Virginia courts, and the constitutionality of Virginia's duly enacted statutes."

UPDATE 1

Blog reaction at  Bearing Drift:

Despite what some would have you think (cough Kaine cough), this was not about whether lethal injection itself was "cruel and unusual punishment." It was about what might happen if one of the injections failed.

Legal eagle blog reaction at The Volokh Conspiracy.

UPDATE 2

More blawg reaction at SCOTUS Blog.

The Republican nod for Virginia attorney general remains Sen. Ken Cuccinelli's, at least for the time being. Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, announced Tuesday morning that he will not seek the third seat on the GOP's ticket in 2009.

Everything from e-mail graphics to legislative agendas pointed toward an AG run for Obenshain, the two-term senator from the 26th legislative district. But in the end, he decided now is not the time.

From an e-mail announcing his intentions:

To have the opportunity to serve Virginia's citizens as Attorney General would be a great honor and privilege. It is a job for which I feel well suited by my professional endeavors over the past 21 years and by my public service. I have been encouraged by phone calls, e-mails and comments from friends from across Virginia and for that I am grateful.

My family is the abiding consideration for me in deciding to forego a run at this time. I have two children in high school, and I am very proud of them. I understand the sacrifices my family would have to make in order for me to seek statewide office at this time, and they are too great.

Thanks to one and all for the encouragement you have provided both for my consideration of a run for AG, and for my service in the Senate of Virginia.

With Obenshain out and the top two spots on the ticket set -- Attorney General Bob McDonnell for governor and Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling seeking re-election -- the field narrows considerably. Jim Hoeft over at Bearing Drift has a good breakdown of the situation, while Old Zach at Sic Semper Tyrannis has info on the other possible contenders.

Regardless of the occupant of the third seat, the GOP ticket looks to be shaping up very early.

The Cheap Seats have been empty for more than a week now, and for good reason: no sane person can stay focused on an entire legislative session, a pending execution and other work obligations for more than a few months at a time.

With the legislature out of session and the case of Edward N. Bell on hold, at least temporarily, the timing couldn't have been better -- especially since we've always been big on "sanity" around these parts.

But fear not, the Cheap Seats are once again occupied, and plans to sneak adult beverages into the legislative galleries are once again under construction.

I and other staffers here at the Daily have done a number of interviews regarding Edward Bell and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's decision to issue a stay of execution in the past few days.

We've put together some of the highlights from those interviews in a podcast here.

More than one person has told me in the last 24 hours that the case of Edward N. Bell is driven by politics. And to some extent, they're undoubtedly right.

It's an immutable fact of our representative democracy that criminal laws are made by elected officials. And where there are elections, politics follow close behind. As one of my first political science professors said many, many years ago, "Politics is how people decide who gets what in situations of limited quantities."

But in the case of Edward Bell, politics have been at the forefront for years. The most notable proof is this ad:



Former Attorney General Jerry Kilgore used Bell's case to attack then Lt. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine on the death penalty.

Kilgore's ads caused a stir when their first hit the airwaves. A number of observers, including the occupant of the Cheap Seats, thought they'd prove decisive in the 2005 tilt. And they were, just not in the way people thought. Team Kaine's deft handling of the situation proved to be the last nail in the coffin for GOP hopes.

Politics are everywhere. For better or worse, the art and science of people and how they vote impacts almost every aspect of our lives, from how much bread costs to where we build our houses to what kind of clothes we wear.

Even how, or if, we as a society hand out the ultimate punishment.

As our faithful readers have no doubt noticed, the Cheap Seats have been empty for the past few days. There's a good reason for that.

Until yesterday, April 8 was scheduled to be the day Edward Nathaniel Bell was going to die, receiving the sentence given him by a jury in Winchester. And I was on my way to Jarrat to watch the end of this drama play out.

Why is the political reporter witnessing an execution? Reporters are sort of like White House operatives in the sense that we often develop a "portfolio" of stories that follow us from posting to posting around a newspaper. And the single-biggest story in my portfolio is the Bell case, which I picked up just a few weeks after I arrived in Virginia in early 2003.

As such, I've followed this case from the Virginia Supreme Court's chambers on 9th Street all the way down to a federal courthouse in Abingdon, over to Harrisonburg for more arguments, and back to Richmond to hear the U.S. Court of Appeals hear the case at the foot of Capitol Square.

For all the headlines, there's something that never comes through in print, and I don't think really can: the awful, gut-wrenching emotional nature of this case and life-shattering impact it has had on all involved.

I've watched the Timbrook family on several occasions weep silently and not so silently as lawyers from the attorney general's office describe Sgt. Timbrook's death in vivid detail. I've seen a look of powerless, frustrated anger overtake the eyes of his colleagues when they talk about it.

It's the kind of raw agony that really defies description.

I've also seen Edward Bell's children light up like Christmas morning when they see their father, shackled and under guard, smile and wave to them from the front of a courtroom, and even more recently heard what could only be described as rapturous relief in the voice of family members upon being told of Kaine's decision to stay.

There is a terrible intimacy that comes with reporting a story like this for the long term. You wind up in elevators with family members of the victim, waiting in line for the courthouse water fountain behind the children of the convicted. Over time, the names on court filings start to become real people, with thoughts and joy and pain and lives all their own.

And for all but the most burned-out shell of a human being, you can't help but to absorb more than a little bit of the pathos that hangs so thick in the room.

Now, Bell's case has taken on a political aspect once again. Capital punishment will always be in the realm of politics.

But make no mistake, there's more going on here than headlines and talking points. The shot that was fired in late October 1999 is still resonating, bringing unimaginable sorrow and heartache to two families in Winchester.

It will apparently do so for quite some time to come.