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Sen.
Janet D. Howell, D-Reston, has been a member of the
Virginia state senate since 1992. As a member of the
powerful Senate Finance Committee, one would expect
to find her imprint on a number of bills impacting
the Northern Virginia area.
Unfortunately,
that doesn't appear to be the case.
Worse,
Howell is promoting an extremist agenda that doesn't
reflect the core values of her constituents. For
example, she called the Boy Scouts' policy of not
allowing homosexuals as scout leaders "homophobic."
This
occurred last year in a committee debate regarding
legislation that would have banned local school
boards from discriminating against the Boy Scouts.
But
then again, that's not surprising for Howell. During
the debate last year on a bill that would set
guidelines for posting the Ten Commandments on
public school walls, she had this to say: "The
thought that we would be putting this in the
classroom is absolutely counter to everything I
think this country stands for."
This
year, Sen. Howell was again caught on the losing
side of promoting an extremist agenda. When the
Senate approved legislation requiring parental
consent for minors seeking abortions, and banning
partial-birth abortion, Howell was visibly upset
over the passage of this bill by a bullet-proof veto
majority.
"This
bill represents big government at its most
abhorrent," said Howell. "This bill
promotes controlling government. It promotes
intrusive government. It promotes uncompassionate
government. It's government meddling at its very
worst."
If
nothing else, you have to give her credit for being
consistently on the side of extreme liberalism. I'm
sure our out-of-touch senator would be shocked to
learn that a Feb. 2003 Gallup poll found that 70
percent of Americans favored a law that would make
partial-birth abortions illegal.
On
the other hand, what about the crucial issues
affecting Sen. Howell's district? With
transportation gridlock being on the mind of most
Northern Virginia voters, one would expect to find a
large body of legislation she sponsored in an
attempt to solve our local bottlenecks.
Alas,
that's not the case. On the contrary, her only
transportation solutions involve raising our taxes.
In
the 2000 legislative session, Howell introduced a
bill calling for a motor fuels sales tax of five
percent. Thankfully, even though her bill passed the
Senate, it was killed in the House of Delegates.
Not
to be silenced, Howell worked feverishly in support
of raising the sales tax by 11 percent in last
year's sales tax referendum. This was subsequently
defeated by the voters in Northern Virginia by a 55
percent to 45 percent margin.
Howell
has been consistent in wanting to raise our taxes.
In the 2002 legislative session, she voted to
authorize counties and cities in Northern Virginia
to impose a local income tax of one-half of one
percent, subject to a local referendum.
Interestingly,
no local jurisdiction has opted to give voters this
choice.
Given
that real estate taxes have increased by more than
50 percent over the last four years in Fairfax
County, even the most ardent tax-and-spend members
on the Board of Supervisors did not call for such a
referendum. They should know, because they have
first-hand experience with voter anger over the
rising real estate taxes.
Given
Howell's obsession with raising our taxes, one
wonders how she can claim on her website that she
has "succeeded in reducing taxes."
Apparently our good senator thinks that because all
her bills calling for tax increases have been
defeated, voters should overlook her track record.
In
other words, we should simply believe what she says
- and not hold her accountable for what she does.
But
Howell is not fooling anyone. She tells us that
she's working on restructuring Virginia's tax
structure. "Tax restructuring" has become
the latest code words out of Richmond for increasing
our taxes.
All
the proposals that have come out of the tax
restructuring committee so far have been exposed as
blatant attempts to use the tax restructuring
exercise to increase taxes.
Fighting
against Howell's record of tax increases is Dave
Hunt, her Republican opponent. Dave is a no-nonsense
politician who says it like it is. He has already
developed numerous proposals for solving our
transportation gridlock, reducing our tax burden,
and reforming state government.
Fortunately,
on Nov. 4, the voters in the 32nd Senate District
will have a real choice. They can vote for Howell
and her long history of attempting to raise our
taxes, as well as her record of non-accomplishments.
Or they can hold her accountable and boot her out of
office.
Sending
Hunt to Richmond will also send a strong message to
the liberal Senate contingent - both Republicans and
Democrats - that the voters are fed up with their
bait-and-switch politics.
--
October 6, 2003
This
column was first published in the Sept. 30 edition
of "Policy Commentary," the Virginia
Club for Growth newsletter.
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