VA senate Dems declare Caps/Wizards arena mostly dead after governor disses their party, calls $1.05B bond plan “untouchable”

So a lot happened yesterday in the Virginia legislature regarding plans for a new Washington Wizards and Capitals arena in Alexandria:

  • State senator L. Louise Lucas said “as far as I’m concerned” the arena bill was dead, after she indicated over the weekend that the senate finance and appropriations committee that she chairs wouldn’t give it a hearing.
  • Senate majority leader Scott Surovell extended the metaphor to its breaking point, saying while the bill wasn’t all dead, “something is going to have to change pretty soon for the patient to get off the surgery table here.”
  • The Virginia state house voted in favor of the arena bill, and is expected to cast a final vote today to send it to the senate, which is expected to let it quietly die for this session.

What’s going on here appears to be a throwdown between Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, and senate Democrats, over everything from the governor’s rhetoric — Lucas specifically called him out for saying Democrats do “not believe in — nor do they want — a strong America,” which is admittedly not the best way to win friends and influence people — to issues like cannabis legalization and an increase in the minimum wage, with Surovell questioning whether Youngkin is willing to consider supporting those issues in exchange for an arena vote. Plus, both senators said they were opposed to using state-backed bonds to fund $1.05 billion worth of construction costs; Surovell said all Democratic requests to revise the financing plan were met with the insistence that “that piece of the bill is untouchable.”

(D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser also jumped into the fray on Friday, vowing to enforce the teams’ lease and saying, “Let me be clear: The city owns the land under the Capital One Arena and will own the building should Monumental break its lease.” Citation needed as to whether that’s actually a clause in the lease, and it’s also TBD whether team owner Ted Leonsis would even want to keep the D.C. arena if he got one in Virginia, but that’s one additional saber rattled, anyway.)

Could the zombie bill still rise up and shamble its way toward passage? This is America, why do you ever feel it’s necessary to ask that question? Deeper political rifts have been healed to get behind subsidies for the local sports billionaire — hey there, Milwaukee! — but sometimes they aren’t, so far be it from me to predict which way this one will go. Any final words, Sen. Surovell?

“To quote Eric Idle — it’s not dead yet,” Surovell said in a text message to The Washington Post on Monday.

That’s not even Eric Idle’s line, revoke that man’s poetic license! Unless he means that he plans to hit the bill over the head with a club and kill it, in which case: Well played.

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22 comments on “VA senate Dems declare Caps/Wizards arena mostly dead after governor disses their party, calls $1.05B bond plan “untouchable”

  1. Speaking of Milwaukee one of the Journal Sentinel writers had an opinion piece questioning whether or not the Bucks stadium subsidy was a good idea. The writer supported it when it was passed but now that we are paying three coaches and the benefits are not flowing as fast as they thought they would it might not have been such a good idea at all.

  2. Sounds like “Miracle Max” may be involved here. Maybe this arena is just mostly dead, and Billy Crystal can help revive it.

  3. The political dynamics are too obvious to ignore. Glenn Youngkin is a Trump-like governor elected on a MAGA platform. Louise Lucas isn’t merely a state senator, she’s president pro tem of the Virginia Senate. And the Democrats control both houses of the state legislature following November’s elections.

    1. Youngkin actually ran as a kinder, gentler Republican, but he’s Trumpist in every way that really matters.

      If “a strong America” means handing out money to billionaires based on entirely fraudulent promises of economic benefits, then let’s have a “weak America.”

      1. Youngkin is not “kinder” nor “gentler”, he’s a culture warrior whose main election plank was “parents’ rights”.
        It helps that money issues beyond the arena helped kill this arena scam. For one thing, the Senate president pro tem wants relief for high bridge-tunnel tolls in Hampton Roads where her district is located.

  4. Good. I hope this thing dies. Stay at Capital One with renovations or build at the old RFK site

    1. What is wrong with Capital One? It is close to the Metro and Union Station. If the whatever they are called DC teams want a new arena in Virginia or West Virginia or wherever, they can arrange their own financing.

      1. Leonsis doesn’t want to be in a place where he might encounter the hoi polloi. He also wants the public to help make him richer.

      2. Nothing at all. I’m saying that they should stay and be glad that the city is offering $500 million in renovations which to date, would be the most expensive renovation job in the NBA. Win win for Leonsis. He should be jumping all over this

  5. I find it quite funny that at some point in the past several years, elected Democrats have realized that they do not, in fact, have to lend a hand to politicians who insult them. This reminds me of the Speaker of the House fiasco last year, when Kevin McCarthy publicly blamed Democrats for the near-shutdown and was then shocked when none of them bailed his ass out during the recall vote. Youngkin has staked a ton of political capital on this Alexandria deal that needs to pass both state legislative chambers controlled by Democrats. What was he expecting would happen when he straight-up questioned their patriotism? That they’d just nod along and hand him a major victory anyways? At least Joe Lombardo understood he couldn’t rhetorically kick the opposition party in the nuts when he needed them to pass the stadium deal for the A’s.

    Anyways, if idiot partisan swipes and petty spats are what eventually derails this deal – and not that it’s terrible for taxpayers – then I’m all for it. It’d be nice if these deals were undone by sober economic analysis, but it’s 2024, we’ll take what we can get.

    1. The Virginia house Democrats, it’s worth noting, were perfectly willing to be kicked in all available nuts.

      1. Ah now, THAT’S the Democratic Party we all know and love! At first I thought that the House passed the bill before the comments but, nope, it was a full 2 days afterwards. Crank up the Black Eyed Peas, cuz Virginia House Democrats are partying like it’s 2009!

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