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Chichester, ,who had left the Democratic Party of his youth to become a Republican, joked that he might become the only legislature to have been kicked out of both parties.
These days I visit the legislature several times when it is in session but as the saying goes you can’t go home again. The assembly of my reporting days no longer exists, the feeling of camaraderie is largely gone and in its place there is a sense of all work and no play.
For reporters covering the legislature these days there is much more red meat to chew on given the new nature of the beast. In my day it was useless to seek information from Republican legislators since the Democratic leadership called nearly all the shots until the early 1980s. Indeed, former Del. V. Earl Dickinson of Louisa, a powerful Democrat, was one of my best sources and enabled a small town reporter to break stories before some of the larger newspapers did.
It has been said the only constant is change. And despite what Hunter Andrews says, the prospect is that the legislature will remain bitterly partisan for years to come and the days of sociability are gone with the proverbial wind.
John Goolrick, a former political reporter, is now an aide to 1st District Rep. Jo Ann Davis. Opinions expressed are his own.
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