Audio: VA House Appropriations Vice Chair Mark Sickles Says Gov. Youngkin Screwed Up by Not Reaching Out to Sen. Louise Lucas on Proposed Arena, but “in the legislative process…there’s always a deal to be made – potentially”

Yesterday on WAMU’s “The Politics Hour,” Del. Mark Sickles – Vice Chair of the House Appropriations Committee – was on to discuss the question, “Is it game over for the proposed Alexandria arena?” The answer, basically, was that “we didn’t really get to the point of negotiations on any of that [transportation improvements, labor, etc.] because of concerns about the debt, the long-term debt, and what it could mean over time, that Senator Lucas has.”  Also, as Del. Sickles added, Youngkin really screwed up by not reaching out to Sen. Lucas:

“This job is as Governor is very different from being the CEO of a company, where you can just cut the deal with the top folks and pass it on. You need to do the leg work. This Administration really hasn’t discovered the secret to doing that yet, on this or many other issues. So I agree with your  assessment that if you’re implying that [Youngkin] had not spent time with Senator Lucas early on on this very major project, even though there are no General Funds in it, that he probably should have done that…This job is harder than he probably thought it was when he came down here. And, you know, he spent maybe  the first two years with his eyes elsewhere and and not really on getting to know us in the legislature very well, and depending on at the time he had a small majority in the House of Delegates, which we elected Democrats last last year…”

However, as Del. Sickles noted, “in the legislative process, there’s always hope, there’s always tomorrow, there’s always a deal to be
made – potentially.” So we’ll see…but it “ain’t over ’til it’s over.”