by Page Boinest Melton

The hot button for Sen. Thomas K. Norment Jr. can be switched on and off like a lamp. Just mention California’s electricity brownouts and the legislative point man on electric deregulation in Virginia instinctively snaps to attention. After all, this litigator and influential Republican lawmaker from Williamsburg is a Virginia Military Institute graduate. He assaults the question by pointing out more than a half-dozen succinct differences between the states. His ultimate point: Virginia will succeed with a thoughtful, disciplined deregulation process. The trim, bespectacled legislator is the sponsor of the electric deregulation bill and chair of the task force overseeing its implementation.

Sen. Tommy Norment Photo courtesy Richmond Times-Dispatch

Fifty-three-year-old Norment won the high-stakes job almost by default. The first chair, former Sen. Jackson E. Reasor Jr., left to take a job in the energy field as president and CEO of Old Dominion Electric Cooperative. Reasor’s successor, Roanoke Delegate Clifton A. Woodrum, deregulation’s fiercest opponent, stepped aside when Republicans took over the legislature. Initially a skeptic, Norment now touts deregulation’s free-market benefits but vows to intercede if needed. "It will not be the legacy of this task force to have a less than successful transition to deregulation, not my legacy as a legislator."

Norment gives utilities, regulators and consumers a simple directive. They must work out their differences, then stick to their agreements. Despite dissenting opinions, "we are able to keep moving forward," says Del. Kenneth Plum, a Reston Democrat who credits Norment with negotiating the legislature’s most complex topic. William Lukhard, a retired state social services commissioner who chairs a consumer advisory board, says Norment brings stakeholders together. Still, he worries consumers may not see lower energy prices as promised and fears utilities may be drawn to higher profits in other states. Susan May, executive director of the Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, is more critical. Her group complains of being shut out, overwhelmed by lobbying and political muscle flexed by heavyweights like Dominion Virginia Power. "I’m sure they have influenced him (Norment). The playing field needs to be evened out."

Norment makes no apologies for deferring to utility lobbyists to explain policy details or for taking their political contributions. The Virginia Public Access Project shows he collected $34,615 from energy companies in his 1999 re-election bid, and another $8,900 for the 2003 election cycle. Dominion Resources Inc. spent about $185,000 on deregulation lobbying efforts in 1999 - 2000 and expects spending to hit $200,000 for 2000 - 2001.

Today, as Republican floor leader, Norment acts as traffic cop to move colleagues briskly through the Senate’s daily calendar, delivering brief lectures on Senate decorum and rules. He berates lobbyists for cell phones that ring in his committee meetings. And he takes time to change his daily voice mail message, subjecting listeners to mini doses of history, marking Captain Kangaroo’s birthday and the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision admitting women to VMI.

Norment’s attention to detail, however, slipped last January when Richmond police charged him with driving under the influence shortly after the legislature convened. Norment pleaded guilty, paid a $350 fine and received a restricted license for a year — a "horrible embarrassment" he says for a sponsor of tougher drunken driving laws. In February, in a burst of what Norment calls "righteous indignation," he criticized Gov. Jim Gilmore’s budget that reduced the car tax at the expense of other priorities. The governor, Norment suggested, must have dined on "hallucinogenic mushrooms" — regretful rhetoric, but a position he still supports. In lighter times, his good friend and frequent hunting partner, Republican Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle of Virginia Beach, says Norment loves practical jokes and humor to deflect difficult situations.

Mostly, he’s just persistent. This spring, Norment appeared before his local GOP committee to review session accomplishments, usually an easy victory lap. Instead, some party stalwarts criticized his opposition to Gilmore’s budget. Norment met the criticism head on, dissecting the budget’s shortcomings. "He would have stayed until midnight if we’d let him," says Caroline Goodson, longtime friend and chair of the James City County Republican Committee. "He would have kept going, point by point, until he was the last one standing." Should Norment ever have to justify Virginia’s course on deregulation, that endurance may come in handy.

Return to Virginia Business - August 2001