The
Taxpayers' Nemesis
Delegate
Jim
Dillard, a Democrat in Republican clothing, has
consistently supported higher taxes. Fortunately, Michael
Golden will oppose him next year.
The
2004 tax increase enacted by the Virginia General
Assembly was the largest in the history of the
Commonwealth. A lot of the blame for this tax
increase goes to Gov. Mark R. Warner who, under
the guise of tax reform, spearheaded the fight for
higher taxes and bigger government. This is the
same Mark Warner who in 2001 campaigned on a
promise of no new taxes. But that’s history.
Responsibility
also
belongs to the Republican Senate. Without the help
of the likes of Sen. John Chichester,
R-Fredericksburg, Emmet Hanger, R-Mount Solon,
Russ Potts, R-Winchester, Ken Stolle,
R-Virginia
Beach,
and others the tax increase would not have been
possible. By all accounts, Chichester
was the enabler, as he proposed a tax increase
three times larger than Warner’s.
On
the other hand, the House of Delegates has largely
escaped the blame game. Also controlled by
Republicans, the more conservative House was
widely perceived as the last line of defense
against higher taxes.
That's
not an accurate perception.
The House leadership caved in, giving the house
away before erious negotiations began. Trying to
outsmart the liberal Senate contingent by half,
the House proposed new taxes of its own.
Astonishingly,
the House moved from a position of “no taxes”
to meeting Warner's tax-increase proposals
half-way and got nothing in return for their
complete capitulation. Obviously, the leadership
quality in the House is sorely lacking, but
that’s the topic of another column.
In
the final count, 19 Republican Delegates voted for
the final version of the tax increase. One of
these enablers is James H. Dillard II, R-Fairfax.
Dillard is nothing short of a liberal Democrat in
Republican clothing.
Dillard
has been getting away with a liberal agenda for
years. I'm not engaging in hyperbole by labeling
him with the "L" word. Documentation
resides in the Federal Election Commission’s
records. In the 2004 election for U.S. president,
the Dillard family made a $1,000
contribution—not to the Republican Party’s
nominee, President George Bush, but to the
Democrat candidate, John Kerry!
Incidentally,
the recorded home address for the donation to
Kerry’s campaign is the same as the address
shown on the Virginia General Assembly’s website
as Dillard’s District office. Delegates receive
a stipend for maintaining an office in their
Delegate District. Presumably, in Dillard’s case
that money apparently goes a long way towards
defraying the costs of the mortgage on his house.
There
are numerous other examples of Dillard’s extreme
liberal bias—some would say socialist agenda. In
2002 voters in Northern Virginia
were given the choice of self-imposing an 11
percent increase to their sales tax. However, the
Sales Tax Referendum was soundly defeated by the
voters.
Nonetheless,
within days after the voters expressed their will
against a tax-and-spend mentality, Dillard
introduced a Bill in the 2003 session of the
General Assembly proposing a 22 percent increase
to the sales tax. This time he made sure that the
voters would not be given a choice in the matter
in the form of a referendum. In Dillard’s world
the voters can’t be trusted to know what’s
good for them.
Dillard’s
bill (HB 2433) had a number of co-patrons, mostly
Democrat liberals, the likes of Ken Plum,
D-Reston, Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax
City,
Robert Hull,
D-Falls
Church,
and others. Thankfully, Dillard’s Bill was
referred to the House Committee on Finance where
it met the death it deserved.
In
the 2003 election cycle, Dillard proposed raising
gasoline taxes by 10 cents a gallon. When his
opponent distributed a flyer “advertising”
Dillard’s proposal, the Dillard campaign
threatened to take action as they insisted this
was an outright lie. Nonetheless, after being
re-elected, Dillard introduced a bill for
increasing the gasoline tax by 7.5 cents. So much
for truth in political campaigns!
Dillard
was the patron or co-patron of no fewer than 18
bills to raise taxes in the past thee years. In
the last session, Dillard introduced or signed
onto bills to increase the sales tax, the gas tax,
taxes on fishing licenses, taxes on prepaid
calling cards, and taxes on new homeowners (deed
tax). Dillard supports legislation to increase
local taxes and to increase the authority of local
governments to impose new taxes.
Dillard
opposed the rollback of the promised car tax and
opposed legislation that would have required local
governments to secure voter approval before
increasing certain taxes. In short, Dillard is the
nemesis of taxpayers.
Following
the passage of the 2004 tax increase, the Virginia
Club for Growth and other conservative
organizations vowed to field challengers against
any Republican who voted to increase taxes. Given
his track record, Dillard sits atop the target
list.
The
search for qualified candidates is always a
challenge, but in this case a most qualified
candidate has already entered the scene. Kicking
off his campaign on
December
9, 2004
,
Michael Golden is seeking the Republican
nomination to unseat Dillard.
Michael
is no stranger to the local political scene. He
was born and raised in Virginia,
went to Fairfax
public schools, and graduated from the University
of Virginia.
He then attended the Georgetown
University
Law
School.
He is now a successful appellate attorney at
Latham & Watkins, LLP, an international law
firm.
Anyone
that meets Michael can’t help but being
impressed. He is a determined candidate who stands
on principle. He has pledged to oppose all tax
increases, as he believes that Virginia’s
families are already taxed enough. Michael is a
strong advocate for government accountability. His
positions are completely in line with the economic
goals promoted by the Virginia Club for Growth.
For more information about Michael’s campaign,
please visit his website at http://www.electgolden.com.
Michael
is the candidate to send Jim Dillard to an early
retirement. Until that day comes, however,
taxpayers should hold onto to their wallets.
--
December 13, 2004
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