How the GOP Lost its Majority Republicans became the majority party in Virginia by hewing to their small-government principles. They will revert to the minority by abandoning those same principles.   Once upon a time... For years, Del. Vance Wilkins and others worked to build a Republican majority in the General Assembly.   1993... Gerrymandered out of a district, ex- Congressman George Allen built an organization city by county across the Commonwealth of Virginia. Behind in the polls by 30 points in June, he gave voters good reasons to vote for him: End parole, reform welfare reform, reform education. He won, and the ball was rolling.   1997... Virginia’s voters knew that a vote for Attorney General Jim Gilmore meant ‘No Car Tax’. Gilmore won by more than 11 points.   1998... The People rejected a Constitutional amendment to create regional governments with taxing authority.   1999... The Republicans won the majority in both chambers of the General Assembly.   2000.... George W. Bush carried Virginia comfortably.   2001....  Attorney General Mark Earley ran for Governor under the ‘I’m Next’ platform. He wouldn’t promise not to raise taxes. Liberal Democrat Mark Warner said over and over that he was a ‘fiscal Conservative’ and he wouldn’t raise taxes. Warner won, Earley lost.   2002... The Republican majority offered a gutless referendum for the voters in NoVa and Hampton Roads. In Hampton Roads the voters were urged to fund new transportation projects with a regressive sales tax for projects that wouldn't fix congestion and would be administered by an unaccountable, unelected Regional Government –- an open invitation to corruption. Even though they were outspent by $2.2 million to $40,000, Republican and Libertarian activists with the help of only four delegates (three Republican and one Democrat) defeated the Transportation Tax Scam by two to one.   2003... The elected Republican majority says, “I’m sorry”, to the Republican Party activists. No challengers arose to threaten the Republicans who legislated against the Virginia Republican Creed.   2004... Revenues were rising in the Bush economic recovery after the Clinton/9-11 recession. Nineteen Republicans in the House and Senate colluded with the Democrat Governor to impose the largest tax hike in Virginia history. The taxes produced a $1.5b surplus.   Republicans spent every penny. Virginians elected President Bush by a smaller margin.   2005... Jerry Kilgore didn't campaign against the tax increase. Instead, he offered a Regional Government solution for transportation problems. Like Warner, liberal Democrat Tim Kaine promised not to raise taxes. Kilgore lost. Less than a week later Kaine announces his plan to raise taxes. Only six candidates challenged Republican incumbents. One won.   2006... Revenue and the surplus continued to  grow. The General Assembly failed to produce a transportation plan. The Republicans in the Senate wanted to raise taxes more than the Democrats.  Republicans in the House offered another plan for Regional Government and a hodge-podge of tax hikes.  Sen. George Allen didn't campaign against increased  taxes at the state and local level. After his "maccaca"  moment his campaign imploded and he ran behind the more conservative congressional candidates and the Marriage Amendment.   2007... Republicans, apparently aided and abetted by Attorney General McDonnell, offered a "compromise" plan that compromised Republican principles for limited government, lower taxes and effective, efficient government services to solve problems. In Hampton Roads the same elected Republicans who supported the ’02 Transportation Tax Scam patted themselves on the back for the ’07 Transportation Tax Panic. Most Republicans were scared stupid to do something, anything, to keep from losing their majority in the General Assembly. Meanwhile, refusing to go along, His Lordship Sir John Chichester killed the compromise abortion of a transportation bill in order to impose his will on the peasants.   April-June 2007...  How many Conservatives will challenge and beat Republican incumbents, setting the stage for Conservatives vs. Democrats or RINOs vs. Democrats in the November election? The Democrats will pick up seats either way.   If the RINOs stay in office, the Republicans will lose their majority in Virginia as assuredly as they did in the U.S. Congress. Republicans will lose their majority the same way the Democrats did: arrogance and abuse of the political culture.   The majority of Virginia – even with the foreign (Yankee and alien) immigration overwhelming NoVa – is moderately conservative. Not Republican. Not Democrat. That is why the Marriage Amendment won by 57 percent to 43 percent margin. The commonwealth, which was Democrat in its state politics, became Republican as the Democrats moved from conservative to liberal.   Much of NoVa is focused on Washington, D.C., not Richmond. Many in NoVa are temporary Virginians, so their local issues, like transportation, have an immediacy about them. If you make noises and motion, it may be mistaken for progress.   Most of Virginia (RoVa) has the political culture of the Old Dominion which respects authority, persons in power, with a political loyalty that is the envy of politicians elsewhere. Once elected is to stay elected – unless your arrogance is egregious.   Additionally, Virginians expect officials to do their duty as they promised and not to bother the voters. Virginians live life with the understanding that they should only have to decide aye or nay on election day.  So, the General Assembly can do as they please because very few voters are watching. That’s why there was no blowback on the ’02 Transportation Scam up until the November election. Then The People spoke.   When The People of Virginia face the choice of Democrats who will raise their taxes and Republicans who will raise their taxes – some more and some less than the Democrats, the Republicans will lose their majority. The label fatigue with national Republicans cost Kilgore and Allen votes. It will hurt more in 2008 and the gubernatorial election in 2009.   The Republican Party of Virginia may not lose its majority in the General Assembly in 2007, but if more ‘compromise’ bills compromise Republican’s conservative principles the way abortion compromises life, then the Republicans will go the way of the Democrats soon enough. Perhaps, the way of the Whigs.   -- February 5, 2007