Two of Richmond's most powerful elected members are in a dispute over transportation and abortion issues in the lead-up to the November 8 election.

It just so happens that both live in Nokesville.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) is challenging state Sen. Chuck Colgan (D-29th) on his effectiveness to adequately address transportation problems.

He is also accusing the dean of the upper chamber of voting to defund Planned Parenthood on the floor of the state Senate before then nominating members to the budget conference committee that then reinserted the funding.

Colgan countered that his legacy of road building is evident all through Prince William County and that concerns over abortion played no role in his selection of committee members, insisting that he used partisan identity and seniority to make his choices.

Transportation

At a rally for Tom Gordy, the Republican nominee challenging Colgan in this year's election, Cuccinelli accused Colgan of enabling liberal leadership and of not solving transportation problems after decades in office.

"Take transportation," said Cuccinelli, himself a former state Senate from Fairfax County. "What do you say if you're Chuck Colgan? 'Well, I'll get in there and fix it.' Well, you've had 32 years. How many? 36? So, it's within the margin of error at that point.

"You know, you failed. You failed in that area. There's not much more for him to talk about," said Cuccinelli, later referring to Colgan as one of the "obstructionists in the Senate finance committee."

A recent example cited by Cuccinelli in a previous interview with the Times is that Colgan could have spent funds more wisely by prioritizing funding for improving the Fairfax County Parkway instead of the railroad overpass on Wellington Road in Manassas.

Colgan responded by saying the Manassas City Council wanted the latter item and that "those trains are a very serious hazard to our area."

He defended his transportation record overall by pointing out that he's responsible in part for the four-lane construction of the Route 234 bypass from Manassas to Dumfries as well as a slew of improvements to other roads, including the Interstate 66-U.S. 29 interchange in Gainesville, the widening of Route 28 south of Manassas, and several other roads.

"He doesn't know what he's talking about," said Colgan.

Abortion

Cuccinelli has a reputation as a socially conservative firebrand known nationally for his federal lawsuit against the Obama administration over the new health care law.

In 2008, he introduced an amendment to the Virginia budget in the state Senate designed to strip state funding to Planned Parenthood, which provides abortions among other services for women.

Federal and state money cannot be used Planned Parenthood to fund abortion procedures under law. Social conservatives argue, however, that by funding other parts of the company, that frees up money for the company to then put its own money toward providing abortions.

Colgan, running for his tenth term in Richmond, is generally regarded as the most conservative Democrat in the state Senate and is in charge of crafting the budget as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

He was the only Democrat to vote in favor of Cuccinelli's amendment. It took a vote by Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling (R) to break a 20-20 tie in favor of defunding.

The amendment and the budget as a whole then went to the budget conference committee, where legislators from the state Senate and House of Delegates negotiate and craft one single budget that can pass both chambers without being changed.

What Cuccinelli accused Colgan of doing is appointing members to that committee that he knew would vote to strip the amendment and allow Planned Parenthood to continue receiving state funds.

"Now, Chuck Colgan voted with me, so on the record, he voted right. At the end of that same day, he appointed the budget conferees and he appointed Senate budget conferees that would kill that amendment in conference with no fingerprints," said Cuccinelli.

He explained that the amendment would need a majority, not just a tie, among both the House and Senate conferees in order to pass through the committee.

"And for the first time ever, it went from five conferees in the Senate to six. And which way do you think that sixth one was going to vote on funding or not funding Planned Parenthood? They voted to fund it," said Cuccinelli.

"So don't think that he isn't covering himself and his caucus and looking one way for the district and doing something very different in Richmond."

Colgan disputed the motive assigned to him by Cuccinelli.

"I didn't even think about it. That didn't come up to end of the conference committee," said Colgan.

He detailed a correspondence between himself and Cuccinelli from that time period in which he said the Republican, who at the time represented parts of Fairfax County, had written a "nasty letter" to him about Planned Parenthood.

Colgan explained that state House Speaker Bill Howell (R) talked to him about putting six members from the state Senate on the conference committee to match the six members of the House of Delegates on the committee.

That bumped up the number of Senate members from five.

An appointment by Colgan of a Republican would then mean Senate members would be split three to three among party lines while the House would be led by Republicans.

Colgan picked four Democrats instead, basing his picks on seniority within members of the Senate Finance Committee. Those included himself and state Sens. Edd Houck (D-17th) and Janet Howell (D-32nd) and state Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw (D-35th).

Colgan is the only anti-abortion rights Democrat on the committee.

In fact, Colgan and state Sen. Phil Puckett (D-38th) are generally referred to as the only Democrats in the state Senate that oppose abortion rights.

Puckett does not sit on the Senate Finance Committee and voted against the amendment to defund Planned Parenthood.

"Who would he suggest?" said Colgan, referring to what Democrats Cuccinelli would rather he pick.

A Democrat picking a Republican "is not the way the system works," given that no Republican would pick a Democrat to be on the committee, according to Colgan

"I'd have been excommunicated by my colleagues in the Democratic caucus," said Colgan.

He called Cuccinelli "totally off-base" and his letter to him "just asinine," though he later said he regretted using the latter term.

In the future, Colgan said he favors bringing the number of conferees back down to five for each chamber.

As for deciding committee members this go around based on their abortion position, Colgan replied, "I never gave that a thought."