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that the state legislature handles a couple of thousand bills and resolutions and the state budget within its allotted time yearly and, on balance, doesn't do too bad a job. There are complaints from the public that things move so fast they have insufficient time for input, but the alternative would be a further slide toward a full-time legislature, and I don't think this is something desired by a majority of Virginians.
And take my word for it, Democrat or Republican, a member of the Virginia General Assembly earns his or her salary during a legislative session. They are called on to work long, hard days to do the business of the Commonwealth and are often sustained all day long only by a sandwich caught on the run from Chicken's cafeteria in the Capitol.
Actually, at this time of year I find myself missing the anticipation of packing my bags and moving to Richmond for the duration of the session. But the nostalgia only lasts as long as the memory of all those late nights as a journalist trying, while exhausted, to make some sense of what was going on.
John Goolrick, a former political reporter, is now an aide to 1st District Rep. Herbert Bateman. Opinions expressed are his own.
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