Posted on 04/06/2002 11:17:14 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
Gov. Mark R. Warner took aim at social conservatives' favorite causes Thursday by vetoing a ban on a controversial abortion procedure and eliminating a requirement that schools display the motto ``In God We Trust.''
The new governor's efforts to squelch those measures set the stage for a showdown with the Republican-controlled General Assembly. Legislators will meet April 17 to vote on Warner's recommendations.
Conservative groups were not surprised by Warner's actions.
``The governor made it very clear early on that he was not interested in social legislation of any type,'' said Victoria Cobb, director of legislative affairs for the Family Foundation of Virginia. ``The General Assembly was just as clear that these are important matters.'' The governor faces a Monday deadline for acting on more than 800 measures adopted by the legislature earlier this year. Today, he will take up legislation allowing a tax-raising referendum to pay for transportation projects in Hampton Roads. Warner is expected to amend the measure to permit a second referendum in November in Northern Virginia.
On Thursday, Warner revised legislation to eliminate a mandate that every public school post ``In God We Trust, the National Motto, enacted by Congress in 1956'' in a prominent location. The governor said schools may voluntarily display the motto, but only if they use public funds to pay for the signs. He expressed concern about the legislators' proposal that schools accept donations.
``The General Assembly's plan could conceivably lead to students in public school classes being urged to bring a dollar back the next day to help pay for the school's sign,'' Warner wrote in an explanation of his action.
Sen. Nick Rerras, R-Norfolk, who championed the measure, predicted legislators would reject the governor's changes. The bill was approved earlier this year with the support of three-quarters of both the House and Senate.
``We should not be trying to censor the national motto from our school children,'' Rerras said. ``There's been an antagonism about anything to do with God for so long.'' Rerras said Warner exaggerated concerns about the cost of the measure.
``You could print it out on a laser printer on a penny sheet of paper and put it in a $1 frame from the dollar store,'' he said.
The Virginia Education Association did not oppose the bill, but leaders of the teachers union said the legislature should have devoted more of its energy to increasing financial support for public schools.
``Certainly posting the national motto is not going to solve the challenges facing public education in this state,'' said Jean H. Bankos, a former Norfolk teacher who now serves as president of the VEA.
On abortion, Warner vetoed a bill that would have banned a procedure sometimes used in late-term abortions in which a fetus is partially delivered, then destroyed. Opponents refer to the procedure as ``partial birth.'' ``I am opposed to all post-viability abortions -- except to protect the mother's life or her health -- and I would sign a bill banning this troubling and rarely-used procedure, if the bill contained such an exception as required under the Constitution,'' Warner wrote in his explanation.
The governor said he believes the ban authored by the legislature is unconstitutional because it does not provide a broad enough exception allowing the procedure when a mother's health is in danger. That contradicts an opinion issued in February by Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore's office.
Virginia enacted a similar law in 1998, but a federal judge ruled it unconstitutional a year later. The judge found that the law improperly limited doctors' ability to make decisions about their patients' health. The state spent $160,000 in legal fees to defend that law.
This year, legislators considered broadening the exceptions to include mental and emotional health, but they ultimately rejected that expansion.
Del. Robert F. McDonnell, R-Virginia Beach, said he believes Warner was under pressure from Democratic activists to veto the bill.
``It's just being consistent with the liberal elements in his base that don't want any legislation that could be construed as pro-life,'' McDonnell said.
The House of Delegates is expected to easily muster the 67 votes needed to override Warner's veto. Activists on both sides are gearing up for a battle in the state Senate, where 27 members supported the measure. Opponents of the legislation could kill the bill by persuading just one of those legislators to switch sides.
``If they can get a better understanding of the bill and how unnecessary and deceptive it is, I think they'll see the light,'' said Ben Greenberg of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia.
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A RAT is always a RAT!...............Conservtive, moderate or a Liberal......still is a RAT
Never forget:-A RAT is always a RAT!...............Conservtive, moderate or a Liberal......= still a RAT
I bet Early would have signed the partial Birth Ban.
I still don't trust him. Watch him in 2008 - Presidential run.
``Certainly posting the national motto is not going to solve the challenges facing public education in this state,'' said Jean H. Bankos, a former Norfolk teacher who now serves as president of the VEA.
For these clowns taking more money from the taxpayers is the ONLY answer.
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