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I
got along without you before I met you and I'll
get along without you a long time after you're
gone.” --Willie Nelson
The
Republican Party of Virginia Advance, the
Party’s annual retreat, took place at the
Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, VA, on Dec. 1 and
2. The theme of this year’s meeting could be
synopsized as, “Let’s all get along.”
Speaker
after speaker repeated the new mantra. Depending
on who asked, the question went something like
this: “If we get along 80 percent of the time,
then we can surely all work together.”
The
appeal to "get along" was justified by
the need to consolidate the GOP’s power after
losses in the 2005 and 2006 elections. Cooperation
was said to be essential if the GOP is to retain
majorities in the state Senate and House of
Delegates.
Given
the upcoming re-districting exercise that will
determine how Virginians are represented in the
General Assembly the next decade, retaining the
majority was portrayed as essential. Speakers made
all kinds of dire predictions of what would happen
if the Democrats took control.
Accordingly,
Republicans unanimously elected Ed Gillespie as
party chairman. Most apparently believed that he
was the only person who can resuscitate the party.
Attendees appeared to know little about his
background, other than the fact that he'd
previously served as chairman of the Republican
National Committee (RNC).
It
was repeatedly said that Gillespie is the person
with the ability to raise the kind of money
necessary to win elections. Lost somewhere in all
of this spin was the fact that it was not the lack
of money that cost Sen. George Allen his U.S.
Senate seat. It was the lack of a clearly
articulated campaign message and a poorly managed
campaign.
The
GOP has lost only two of the last four statewide
elections. The breakdown of wins versus losses
breaks down as follows: Two losses (Governor and
U.S. Senate) and two wins (Lt. Governor and
Attorney General). This 50 percent record hardly
relegates the GOP to a minority status party.
But
the GOP won the elections largely in spite of
itself. The party has failed to articulate a
vision for Virginia’s future. Worse, it has been
unable or unwilling to control its representatives
in the state Senate who campaign as fiscal
conservatives and govern as tax-and-spend
liberals.
The
last campaign with a clearly articulated and
visionary message took place in 1997, when then-
candidate Jim Gilmore (R) promised to abolish the
car tax. The voters responded and Gilmore won
handily. He even carried Fairfax County with some
52 percent of the vote, which pundits would have
you believe is forever lost to the GOP.
Republicans
cannot buy votes by promising to outspend the
Democrats. No matter how fast Republicans spend
the state’s new revenues, they will always get
accused by the Democrats and the vociferous public
employee unions of not spending enough.
In
the last decade, we have witnessed unprecedented
state spending. Yet irrespective of party
affiliation, the tax-and-spend liberals are
calling for new tax increases and more spending.
Raising taxes is offered as the only solution for
freeing us from traffic gridlock. The fact that we
could be spending some of the budget surplus on
transportation never enters the equation.
If
anyone held hopes that the Virginia GOP is led by
visionaries, they should be disappointed. This
became clear at a meeting entitled “2007
Election Preview” where two members of the state
Senate, Senators Brandon Bell, R-Roanoke, and Mark
Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, were joined by the
Speaker of the House of Delegates, Del. Bill
Howell, R-Fredericksburg, and the Majority Leader,
Griffith H. Morgan, R-Salem.
The
composition of the panel sent a clear message as
to the root of the problem afflicting the GOP. The
Senate was represented by two of its most junior
Senators. Obenshain is 37th and Bell is 35th out
of 40 in terms of seniority. The Senate leaders
disdain party stalwarts, knowing that the
activists harbor little support for their
tax-and-spend policies.
Parenthetically,
House leaders had shunned the Advance last year.
Presumably, given their willingness to hold the
line against tax increases this time around, they
felt more comfortable hobnobbing with the party
faithful, most of who still believe in the
party’s creed that “fiscal responsibility and
budgetary restraints must be exercised at all
levels of government.”
The
panel consistently refused, however, to answer
policy questions. The fact that panelists could
separate and compartmentalize policy issues from
election strategy is a mind-boggling statement. It
shows that the House leadership has yet to make
the connection between clearly articulated,
visionary policies and electoral wins.
But
the most sobering statement came from the Speaker
in response to a question of what can be done
about the Senate leadership. In a frank exchange,
Del. Howell readily admitted that he is out of
options on how to deal with Sen. John Chichester,
R-Fredericksburg, the President Pro Tempore of the
State Senate, particularly on the issue of tax
increases.
The
House leadership at least has presented a credible
plan to fund transportation without raising taxes.
On the other hand, the Senate Republican leaders
in collaboration with the Democrats and Gov. Tim
Kaine (D) are holding legislation hostage until
they get their way. Raising taxes rather than
clearing our transportation bottlenecks appears to
be the overriding concern of this cabal.
GOP
leaders ask the activists to put their differences
aside and work toward maintaining the party’s
majorities. In other words: Re-elect the same
unreliable and untrustworthy Republicans who
remain unaccountable to the party and refuse to
follow the party’s policies of lower taxes and
limited government.
No
party deserves majority status when its elected
representatives are so divided that they cease to
communicate. The party leaders apparently think
that majorities are maintained by keeping the
activists in tow. They fail to understand that
electoral victories are achieved only through
visionary policies and strong leadership.
--
December 18, 2006
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