Post by Logan on Feb 3, 2016 3:31:40 GMT -6
Schapiro: For Norment, pay proposal is another embarrassment
At Virginia Military Institute, Tommy Norment was the first sergeant of Delta Company. That made him second-in-command, though it meant he had considerable authority and could impose it, virtually unchecked, on others. At the time — this was the 1960s — VMI was males-only and, because of its mania with uniformity, organized its companies according to the height of cadets. Delta Company was made up of short guys. And 1st Sgt. Norment, he recently recalled with a smile, could be a menacing short guy.
More than a half-century later, that short guy still delights in being menacing. But now, as the Virginia Senate’s Republican majority leader and co-chairman of the budget-writing Finance Committee, Norment has real power. One of its more troubling displays — for him, in that it backfired — was his attempt to exile reporters to the Senate gallery, chasing them off the floor to which they’d had access for more than a century. Reporters returned to the floor after 19 days — and after Norment took a pounding in the newspapers.
Norment is flexing his muscle again — this time, trying to spend over the next two years more than $700,000 in public funds to fatten his office allowance, expand his staff and provide an itty-bitty pay raise for his brother and sister senators. Norment, who walked away from three reporters Tuesday rather than answer questions about his proposals, tucked them into five little-noticed amendments to the $109 billion state budget introduced by Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
Norment, from James City County, is a man of many talents: a seasoned lawyer who can game the system on behalf of his clients, a businessman with a deep knowledge of the banking, automobile and electric industries, an educator who shares his intimate familiarity with Virginia government with undergraduate and law students, some of whom are working for the state. As a politician, his acumen, accumulated over nearly 30 years in elective office, has landed him at the pinnacle of the Senate. But since the start of the 2016 General Assembly, it’s repeatedly landed him in trouble, embarrassing himself and his Republican caucus.
Read more: www.richmond.com/news/virginia/government-politics/jeff-schapiro/article_6c68ecb6-de12-5d04-a227-52787f6a2d07.html
At Virginia Military Institute, Tommy Norment was the first sergeant of Delta Company. That made him second-in-command, though it meant he had considerable authority and could impose it, virtually unchecked, on others. At the time — this was the 1960s — VMI was males-only and, because of its mania with uniformity, organized its companies according to the height of cadets. Delta Company was made up of short guys. And 1st Sgt. Norment, he recently recalled with a smile, could be a menacing short guy.
More than a half-century later, that short guy still delights in being menacing. But now, as the Virginia Senate’s Republican majority leader and co-chairman of the budget-writing Finance Committee, Norment has real power. One of its more troubling displays — for him, in that it backfired — was his attempt to exile reporters to the Senate gallery, chasing them off the floor to which they’d had access for more than a century. Reporters returned to the floor after 19 days — and after Norment took a pounding in the newspapers.
Norment is flexing his muscle again — this time, trying to spend over the next two years more than $700,000 in public funds to fatten his office allowance, expand his staff and provide an itty-bitty pay raise for his brother and sister senators. Norment, who walked away from three reporters Tuesday rather than answer questions about his proposals, tucked them into five little-noticed amendments to the $109 billion state budget introduced by Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
Norment, from James City County, is a man of many talents: a seasoned lawyer who can game the system on behalf of his clients, a businessman with a deep knowledge of the banking, automobile and electric industries, an educator who shares his intimate familiarity with Virginia government with undergraduate and law students, some of whom are working for the state. As a politician, his acumen, accumulated over nearly 30 years in elective office, has landed him at the pinnacle of the Senate. But since the start of the 2016 General Assembly, it’s repeatedly landed him in trouble, embarrassing himself and his Republican caucus.
Read more: www.richmond.com/news/virginia/government-politics/jeff-schapiro/article_6c68ecb6-de12-5d04-a227-52787f6a2d07.html