News Article

Senator McEachin drops law suit against Lieutenant Governor Bolling over ability to cast tie-breaking votes

Friday, February 24, 2012
Brian Gottstein
Office of the Attorney General

RICHMOND (February 24, 2012) -- Today, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli announced that Senator Donald McEachin (D-Henrico) has dropped the law suit against Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling regarding his ability to cast tie-breaking votes on senate organization and other matters. Mr. Cuccinelli represents the lieutenant governor.

Lawyers for Senator McEachin notified the Richmond Circuit Court earlier today of the non-suit, which is a voluntary dismissal of a law suit and a right provided to plaintiffs under Virginia law. Because of the non-suit, the hearing scheduled for February 27, 2012, on the motion to dismiss the suit has been cancelled.

"While we believe that our motion to dismiss filed on behalf of the lieutenant governor would have been successful, we are pleased that Senator McEachin made the decision to drop this suit. While he retains the right to re-file the case, we hope that the focus will now be on legislation instead of litigation," said Cuccinelli.

Cuccinelli said that his office would vigorously defend against any new action that might be filed. "From the beginning of this case, it has been clear that the lieutenant governor has the right to vote on senate organization and break other ties, unless the Constitution of Virginia limits the vote to members elected to the senate. That will still be true if another suit is filed, and therefore, we will seek dismissal of any new suits," Cuccinelli said.

Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling said, "I am pleased to hear Senator McEachin has decided to non-suit this case. We felt the case was without merit and we were encouraged by the court's earlier rulings that seemed to uphold our position. Hopefully, Senator McEachin's decision is an indication that we can move beyond issues such as this and focus on getting the people's business done in the final days of the legislative session. Priority number one should be the adoption of a state budget to make certain that we can continue to fund the core responsibilities of state government and protect the interests of the people we serve. I look forward to working with Republicans and Democrats to do everything we can to accomplish this goal on a timely basis."

For additional information contact Ibbie Hedrick at 804-225-2487 or ibbie.hedrick@ltgov.virginia.gov.