Editor, Gazette-Journal:

The Commonwealth of Virginia has long been known as one of the best managed states in America. Under leadership from Republicans and Democrats, both sides have understood that working together in bipartisan ways creates positive results for all Virginians. That is why our citizen legislators are sent to Richmond.

This year, Senate Democrats have decided to do things differently. They didn’t like their committee assignments, so they threw the whole idea of bipartisanship out the door. A prominent Democrat confesses and admits that the budget fight is all about committee seats. Sen. Chap Petersen calls impasse a "process to re-balance the structure of the Senate." Check out his blog.

In an extraordinarily irresponsible move, Senate Democrats voted along strict party lines to block the biannual budget, putting at risk public school education funding, public safety funding, funding for your local governments, transportation and services for ...