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"The
only thing worse than being blind is having sight
but no vision." –Helen Keller
At
the Republican Party of Virginia Advance last
week, I attended a session that had been labeled
“General Assembly Update.” This was supposed
to be a presentation by leaders of the state
Senate and House of Delegate Republican Caucuses
on their legislative priorities.
The
panel consisted of only two legislators, Sen.
Emmett Hanger, R-Mount Solon, and Del. R. Steven
Landes, R-Weyers Cave. Sen. Hanger holds no
leadership position in the Senate Republican
Caucus, whereas Del. Landes is chairman of the
majority caucus.
Parenthetically, the shunning of
the Advance by the Republican legislative
leadership could not have been more pronounced.
Neither the Speaker or the majority leader of the
House nor the President Pro Tempore or the
Majority Leader of the Senate were present.
Given
the fact that the Advance is the largest annual
meeting sponsored by the Virginia Republican
Party—some 500 stalwart grassroots activists
attended this year’s event—the snub by the
legislative leadership could not have been more
obvious. But, then, the current leadership in the
General Assembly has repeatedly gone out of its
way to poke the inured grassroots in the eye.
Del.
Landes presented the “House Republican Caucus
Reform Agenda.” This one-page flyer lists some
nine initiatives that the Caucus will try to get
through the House in the form of legislative bills
during the 2006 session. Sen. Hanger provided no
handouts and generally commented on the
House Caucus’ agenda.
It
would appear that Senate leaders have no
legislative agenda for next year. Or if they do,
they certainly do not want to share it with the
grassroots activists of their own political party.
We might as well assume that the oft-reported
stories about the Senate pushing for another
massive tax increase next year are accurate.
A
funny exchange took place when a seminar
participant tried to nail down Sen. Hanger on
whether he would or would not support a tax
increase next year—apparently, not even the good
Senator knows where he stands on this particular
question.
The
House Caucus agenda calls for the same old
initiatives we have heard time and time again in
years past. It lists items such as creating a
back-to-school tax holiday, continue investments
in transportation, address impact of illegal
aliens, continue the Chesapeake Bay clean-up, etc.
So
much for a new and bold vision! There was nothing
on controlling state spending or revamping the
state’s archaic budget. Nothing on introducing
performance-based budgeting or holding accountable
state-funded programs.
Virginia
is facing a spending crisis. During the last
decade, the Commonwealth of Virginia’s budget
has experienced an average growth of 16 percent in
every biennial budget cycle. General fund spending
alone increased more than 85 percent from 1997 to
2006. Clearly, we cannot sustain this runaway
spending for the long term.
I
don’t generally agree with Sen. Hanger, but even
he termed the House’s agenda as meaningless,
cosmetic changes. But the House has at least
committed some of its initiatives to writing,
whereas the Senate remains as obscure as
politicking was in the days of the pharaohs.
Even
more
telling about what is transpiring in the Senate is
the fact that there are now two separate
Republican caucuses. A new body was formed by five
conservative state senators, who have split from
the Senate Republican Caucus. It is no surprise
that the new Senate Caucus was fully represented
at the Advance.
One
person that gets the vision thing is Lt.
Governor-elect, Bill Bolling (R). In a fiery
speech he told the faithful,“We understand that
the best way to keep government small and focused
on its core responsibility is to let working
Virginians and their families keep more of their
hard earned money and the government take less.
That’s why we believe in keeping taxes low for
Virginia’s families and businesses.”
He
continued: “Let me be clear about this. ... To
be successful in the future we must remain the
party of lower taxes, we cannot become the party
of higher taxes.”
Obviously,
someone forgot to pass this memo to Sen. John
Chichester, R-Fredericksburg, who seems hell-bent
on raising taxes. And given a leaderless House of
Delegates, it will be no surprise if Chichester is
again successful.
It
is said that one definition of insanity is when
you keep on doing the same things while expecting
different results. As long as the so-called
leaders at the House and Senate continue following
the same visionless path—unable to see their way
out of the box—Virginia is doomed to keep on
repeating past mistakes.
--
December 12, 2005
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