A little judicial smackdown...

Hampton's judges have been in dispute for years, but it seemed like the two chambers of the General Assembly were in agreement on judicial appointments until about 9:30 p.m. last night.

The issue could have gone away quietly, instead the Senate made a very public rebuke of the appointment of Kathy Gear-Owens, the sister of Republican Del. Tom Gear - by pulling her name out and watching her candidacy get only 12 votes. Ouch.

Which immediately leads to the question was this very simply a quick and dirty piece of political payback?

Enter the Tricia Stall campaign. Gear nurtured her political aspirations, lent her campaign staffers and helped her knock off Sen. Marty Williams in a primary last year. Ultimately, Senate leaders had to dump heaps of cash into Stall's unsuccessful campaign and embrace an activist who they had viciously critiqued during the primary.

Stall's campaign triggered and ver awkward balancing act for Sen. Thomas K. Norment, R-James City, and Sen. Ken Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, and after everything was said and done they found themselves in the minority in the Senate this year. Did Gear really believe that those senators were going to sign off on the sister of the guy that some of them blame for their minority status?

Not to mention that Republicans thought they had judicial brokered a deal with Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, who has a long checkered history with Gear stemming from their days on Hampton City Council. You know what they say about familiarity and contempt?

The whole judicial affair looks like a big political smackdown - is there any other plausible explanation?