An AP report indicates efforts to turn back Virginia's religious neutrality policy for State Police chaplains may get an assist from the state's new incoming Governor. The order from Police Superintendent Steven Flaherty, supported by outgoing Governor Tim Kaine, required police chaplains to offer only non-denominational prayers at official events. Delegate Charles Carrico is attempting to overturn that directive.
Carrico introduced legislation in the 2009 General Assembly after five of 17 troopers and state police supervisors serving as chaplains resigned from the voluntary position in protest of the directive. The bill lifting the restriction sailed through the House of Delegates but failed by one vote in a Senate committee.
Carrico already has refiled the measure for the 2010 session, which begins Jan. 13. He said he is hoping for a better result now that senators have had more time to think about the issue.
He also could get a boost from the change in the governor's office. Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine, who had threatened to veto Carrico's bill, will be succeeded by Bob McDonnell, a conservative Republican with close ties to the Rev. Pat Robertson.
"The governor-elect is a strong supporter of religious liberty and the right of religious officials to freely practice their faiths, unimpeded by government," McDonnell spokesman J. Tucker Martin said. "He is reviewing the directive from that perspective."
