02.12.01

By Ty N. Bowers

Jeff E. Schapiro yesterday walked into the Capitol Building’s pressroom to find a tray of donuts, muffins and pastries.

The 24-year veteran reporter said they came from the Democratic Party.

It would be a light morning, he said, with a news conference followed by the House and Senate session.

"Every day’s a news conference. Spin, spin," Schapiro said. "Both parties have gotten aggressive."

In the 21 years that he has covered state government for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Schapiro said a lot of the faces have changed, but the methods and procedures remain the same.

After checking his messages and email, he headed down the hall to cover the Democratic Caucus’s press conference, where he said the Democrats would try to put a human face on Gov. Jim Gilmore’s budget - one that has already drawn intense fire this session.

The Democrats, he said, are trying to derail that budget.

"They’re trying to pull off a train wreck without leaving any fingerprints all over the place," he said, assessing the Democrats’ strategy to fight the budget.

Back inside the pressroom, Schapiro grabbed a bagel courtesy of the Democratic Party and chatted with his coworkers.

Recently renovated, the pressroom is still cramped. It houses the Associated Press, Virginian-Pilot and Times-Dispatch capitol press corps, and all the reporters know each other.

For the Times-Dispatch reporters, the surprise of the day was to see their executive editor in the Senate chambers with retired University of Virginia football coach, George Welch.

"He [Bill Millsaps] was Welch’s long-time publicist," Shapiro quipped.

But the light morning would provide one less-than-dull moment.

Lila White, the governor’s assistant press secretary stuck her head in the pressroom to tell reporters that Gilmore would come down for a few questions.

Schapiro wound his way around the halls holding a copy of an article from the Virginian-Pilot. The article told of a state police investigation into alleged phone tapping by the governor’s no car tax PAC.

Moments later, Gilmore waded into a thicket of reporters asking tough questions about the investigation. He left without answering them.

"I can’t believe she [White] didn’t brief him on that," Schapiro said. "He said he hadn’t even read the article."

Schapiro’s disbelief vanished as quickly as it set in. He made his way upstairs to cover the Senate’s proceedings.

In the Senate’s wine and gold chambers, as he refers to them in his articles, there are days where nothing gets done.

"I feel like Pavlov’s dogs after a while," he said.

The Senate adjourned for the day after less than an hour’s worth of work.

"There’s a certain sameness to it," he said. "Sometimes it can be draining. Especially when they’re not doing anything substantial."