Senator Ralph Smith, "Knight of the Right"

Story from the Roanoke Times....I'm glad that they did not suggest this conservative walks on his knuckles....or eats small children........

RICHMOND -- Ralph Smith spent much of his first year in the Virginia Senate sitting -- both physically and ideologically -- in the chamber's far right corner.

Smith, a former Roanoke mayor who now lives in Botetourt County, ran for the 22nd Senate District last year as a rock-solid conservative, and he's backed that up with his votes and actions this session.

"He's taken an ideological approach, as he said he would in his campaign," said Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke.

For Smith, it's a matter of living up to his word for the people in his district, which stretches from Botetourt County to Radford, with Salem and parts of Montgomery and Roanoke counties included.

"The main thing is, 'Do what you said you were going to do,' " Smith said when asked what constituents are telling him.

Smith arrived in the Virginia Senate in a year when Republicans found themselves in the minority for the first time in nearly a decade. The Senate Republican Caucus had been dominated by moderates, but this year shifted further to the ideological right -- in part because of the addition of conservatives such as Smith.

The caucus has punished the new Democratic majority, helping to sap momentum from the Democratic-sponsored Senate budget proposal, and more than once pulling a swing Democratic vote to derail legislation it opposed.

Like most other freshmen senators, Smith speaks only occasionally, rising to welcome visitors from his district or to propose action on one of his bills. In doing so he sometimes stumbles over his words or requires prompting from his deskmates when trying to voice the appropriate procedural move.

At one point in February he proposed postponing a vote on a bill for the day, only to be told he couldn't do that because of a legislative deadline. Smith apologized for making a "freshman mistake" and sat down.

But underestimating Smith's shrewdness when it comes to politics is a mistake -- a lesson that his electoral opponents in both parties have learned firsthand.

"Even during the election, I warned my party, 'Do not take Ralph Smith for granted,' " said Del. Onzlee Ware, D-Roanoke. "He may appear unsophisticated, but you don't become a millionaire by being stupid."

In Richmond, Smith has compensated for his lack of eloquence with hustle and a resolute determination to stick to his principles.

"If I had to say one thing, he seems to be very conscientious in voting what he believes in," said Smith's seatmate, Sen. Robert Hurt, R-Chatham.

Sens. Ken Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax County, Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, and a couple of other conservative stalwarts in the Senate Republican Caucus served as informal mentors for Smith.

But despite his influence, Obenshain makes it clear that the Botetourt County senator has his own mind.

"Even when it comes to issues that Ken and I may agree completely on, Ralph has been very insistent that he understand," Obenshain said. "He doesn't follow anybody blindly."

Cuccinelli noted that Smith questions assumptions that longtime legislators sometimes take for granted.

"He's one of the few people, including Republicans, that actually asks, 'Why are we doing this? Should we be doing this?' rather than just, 'How do we do this?' " Cuccinelli said.

Smith's also worked to make connections across the aisle, befriending some of the freshmen Democrats. On the first day of the session, he and Sen. Ralph Northam, D-Norfolk, formed the "Ralph Caucus" -- ostensibly to repopularize their first name.

Smith has also developed a friendship with Sen. George Barker, D-Fairfax County, whose office is just a few doors down from his.
Developing relationships is especially important in the Senate, where legislators serve terms twice that of those in the House of Delegates.

"You have to find good folk who will support you in the Senate," Ware said.
He said Smith is in much the same position he was his first year in the General Assembly -- part of a minority and needing majority support to pass any bills.

It takes time to build those relationships necessary to get things done. But the more time spent doing that and adapting to the demands of the General Assembly's committee system, the less there is to argue for your own legislation.

Smith filed only nine bills to change the state code this year, tied with Sen. John Miller, D-Newport News, for the fewest among freshmen senators (but not for fewest in the Senate).
By contrast, Edwards filed 54 bills -- the most in the Senate and second-most in the General Assembly.

"We're creating a lot of bureaucracy," Smith said. "I will never be one of these people submitting 50 or 100 bills. ... There's 24,000 pages of state regulations. Every time you pass one more, you add a page."

Smith also limited his budget amendment requests. When most legislators filed requests seeking state funding for museums and projects in their home districts, Smith instead filed an unsuccessful amendment seeking a $7 million cut in funding for public television.

"If I campaigned as a fiscal conservative, I must stay true to my word," Smith said. "Every time I ask for money you've got to say, 'Well, what pot are you going to take it out of?' "

He's applied those conservative principles to his voting decisions, but keeping track of various bills can be difficult. Senators filed nearly 800 bills, and that doesn't count the legislation coming from the larger House of Delegates.

"It takes awhile down here to understand the system and the issues," said Edwards, who is in his 13th year in the Senate. "There are numerous issues, and many of them are quite complex. There are often crosscurrents on the issues with regard to various interest groups and with regard to the politics.
"It takes a number of years to really understand them and to learn them, and to navigate the choppy waters of the General Assembly."

Smith's started to develop a system, however. His two aides, Toby Burke and Dave Suetterlein, work with Cuccinelli's two aides to track each bill that comes through the Senate. Smith reads what he considers to the be most important measures, and he's briefed on the rest.

He has not hesitated to vote against legislation that runs afoul of his principles -- even if he's the only one. Because he opposes expanding the availability of alcohol, he was the sole "no" vote on a bill to authorize Roanoke to allow sales of beer and wine at an outdoor amphitheater.

"Drinking in moderation, I have no objection at all, but it seems like another opportunity for those who have trouble controlling alcohol consumption," he said afterward.

But he has sometimes found that other considerations conflict with his ideological principles. In committee, Smith voted for a constitutional amendment that would give local governments the right to exempt 20 percent from residential taxes. Despite his desire to see lower taxes, Smith switched his vote to conform with the 18 other Republicans and two Democrats to kill the measure, which had been heavily pushed by Gov. Tim Kaine.

More recently, he's found himself conflicted over how the state should regulate payday lending.
"A fix is not going to make the Family Foundation 100 percent happy," Smith said. "And it's not going to make the industry 100 percent happy. That is an entanglement when you're a free enterprise person, but your responsibility is looking after the welfare of those who are most threatened."

With the end of his first session rapidly approaching, Smith acknowledges his first year was fairly quiet. But he said he feels like he's taken a step toward what is, for him, the bottom line: "I said publicly many times I certainly didn't expect to change the world in the first year of my term ... but I think I'm on the path to make it a little bit better."

Roanoke Times story here