2024-03-22 20:25:00
RICHMOND — Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) likes to tell audiences that his plan to put a $2 billion professional basketball and hockey arena in Alexandria is so good, even Democrats in the House of Delegates were impressed when they hired an outside consultant to crunch the numbers.
“The House … did their work,” Youngkin told an audience in Chesapeake on Monday, using language he has repeated in other locations. “They hired outside advisers. They confirmed all the assumptions. And guess what? The House passed the bill to go forward with this economic development project.”
But the outside consultant never did a detailed financial analysis, according to documents, House budget staff and two leading Democrats.
“That is a total mischaracterization by the governor. It’s not true,” House Appropriations chairman Luke E. Torian (D-Prince William) said in an interview.
House Speaker Don L. Scott Jr. (D-Portsmouth) said the consultant only took a broad look at the proposal. “What we were told was that it was in line with other stadium deals, that it had the potential to be a really good deal but we needed to continue to vet it,” Scott said.
With the arena plan calling for $1.5 billion in taxpayer-backed bonds, the House retained lawyer Ronald C. Green of the Houston law firm Jones Walker, which has extensive experience in publicly financed projects, to do an independent review of the proposal. Green did not respond to a call seeking comment, but according to documents provided by the House Appropriations Committee staff under a Freedom of Information Act request, he did not get much further than an initial consultation.
“Because the firm was not engaged until January 31, and the negotiations fell apart prior to final consideration of legislation, we have no further analysis from the firm.” House Appropriations Staff Director Anne E. Oman said in response to the records request.
Rob Damschen, a spokesman for Youngkin, said Thursday in a written statement that the governor appreciates the work the House did in retaining a consultant to look at the arena project and “remains focused on moving Virginia forward and pursuing policies that grow the commonwealth.”
He did not respond to the charge that Youngkin was mischaracterizing the study, but seemed to double down on the idea that the House had a complete evaluation of the project done. Youngkin “agrees with the characterization made by the team the Speaker and the House hired to evaluate it, that the economic development project in Alexandria would be a great deal for Virginia, and appreciates the House doing the work to verify what he’s known throughout — all Virginians stand to benefit from the revenues created by this project,” he said.
Scott said the consultant’s study was not completed because the governor’s office was slow in providing information. By the time lawmakers had enough financial details to use in an analysis, he said, the state Senate had made it clear that the deal was not going to advance.
“I think that is indicative of how this whole thing was rolled out,” Scott said, adding that there might have been a different outcome “if we had gotten this information a lot earlier and been in true partnership from the beginning.”
Instead, Sen. L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth), chairwoman of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, blocked a bill establishing the arena from getting out of committee and stripped arena language from the state budget. The General Assembly adjourned March 9 without approving the project.
Youngkin can try to revive it by sending down a bill or budget amendment when the General Assembly reconvenes April 17 to take up the governor’s amendments and vetoes, or he could call a special session focused on the arena.
For the past two weeks, Youngkin has staged public appearances around the state to whip up support for both his version of the budget and for the arena, which he calls the “single best economic development project in the history of the commonwealth.” He faults the Senate for blocking the project but notes that the House initially passed both a stand-alone bill and a budget amendment that authorized the arena.
On Tuesday, Youngkin held a video meeting with Lucas and Torian to discuss the budget and the arena, but both Democrats said afterward that they and the governor remained far apart.
“I’m not going to be bullied,” Lucas said in an interview later that day.
Youngkin followed up Wednesday with a letter to Lucas and Torian in which he thanked them for meeting and urged them to “avoid a protracted [budget] fight into the summer,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by The Washington Post. The General Assembly had passed a budget that rejected most of the tax overhaul Youngkin had included in his proposed spending plan but included Youngkin’s proposal to extend the state sales tax to digital downloads and went a step further by expanding the tax to software purchased by businesses, not just consumers.
In his letter, Youngkin vowed not to sign a tax increase. But, he added, “we need not succumb to Washington, D.C.-style politics. We can come together … it is clear to me that far more unites us than divides us.”
That’s a sharply different message than the one Youngkin has been delivering for the last two weeks as he tours the state slamming the “backwards budget” passed by Democrats. He appeared on Fox News on Thursday morning and said Democrats “literally want to undermine public safety” with 22 criminal justice-related bills that he vetoed.
“He’s literally going on an alienation tour,” Scott said later. “Maybe he wants to be a national surrogate for Trump but that’s not how you govern in Virginia.”
Lucas — who has consistently belittled Youngkin’s arena plan on social media — and Torian sent Youngkin a letter of their own on Thursday, touting their budget’s investment in public programs and scolding the governor for his public comments.
“Unfortunately, it is hard to envision productive negotiations being undertaken in the midst of your statewide tour touting a ‘backwards budget.’ What is backwards is your understanding of the budget process,” the pair wrote, according to a copy of the letter obtained by The Post. “Your desire to engage the legislature in crafting amendments to the budget prior to the Reconvened Session is unprecedented, much like your ongoing threats to veto the entirety of the budget if it does not meet your demands.”
Laura Vozzella contributed to this report.
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