Speaker Howell as fund-raiser, tax reformer, commentator on the role of courts

Today's Washington Post has this story on the successful fundraising efforts of Delegate William Howell, the Speaker of the House of Delegates.

This week's Jeff Schapiro column in the Richmond paper focuses on the limitations on Howell and Governor Warner to make things happen on tax reform.

This article describing a conference of legislators says that Howell agreed that courts are infringing on the prerogatives of the legislatures, with the following quotes:

"It is 'one of the most fundamental concerns that we as legislators should have,' and it amounts to 'the taking away of our legislative powers,' said Virginia Delegate William J. Howell, speaker of the state House of Delegates. He addressed fellow lawmakers at the annual meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in Washington, D.C.

'We are finding more and more, in states all over the country, legislative actions are being overruled by the courts,' said Howell. 'As a result, we're seeing an explosion of litigation all across the country that is costing untold billions of dollars and is causing all sorts of havoc with...state budgets.'"