Lingamfelter Helps Break Partisan Impasse

Democrats credit an unlikely source with helping them get two judges confirmed to the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals Friday: Del. L. Scott Lingamfelter (R-Prince William).

Republicans had threatened to reject Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's two judicial picks unless their party was able to fill two other judicial openings on the State Corporation Commission and the Workers' Compensation Commission.

But behind closed doors, Lingamfelter lobbied fellow Republicans to allow the appointments, which included a former Prince William County Circuit Court judge.

Hours before the deadline, Republicans did just that.

S. Bernard Goodwyn was elected to the Supreme Court and former Prince William County Circuit Court judge LeRoy F. Millette Jr. was elected to the Court of Appeals, the state's second-highest court.

"I'm just one vote,'' Lingamfelter said when asked about it later. "Sometimes the best thing you do is done quietly."