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Broken
Pledges
Warner,
Chichester and other elected officials need to be
held accountable for breaking their promises not to
raise taxes.
Former
Governor L. Douglas Wilder had something very
profound to say at the joint press conference he
held with U.S. Senator George Allen on March 1 to
criticize Gov. Mark R. Warner, state Senator John H.
Chichester, R-Stafford, and other senators for
proposing billions of dollars in new taxes. The
central point of Wilder’s remarks has been lost in
the days since. That point bears emphasis if we want
to preserve any semblance of popular accountability.
Wilder
reminded reporters that he had endorsed Warner
during the 2001 gubernatorial campaign because of
Warner’s pledge not to raise taxes. “Had I had
any idea he would be embarking upon raising of taxes
of Virginia past anything we had promised during
that course,” Wilder said, “I would not have
been there with him.”
The
suggestion that state taxes be raised was
specifically, emphatically and repeatedly rejected
by Warner during the 2001 gubernatorial campaign and
never endorsed by him during the 2003 legislative
campaigns. None of the current tax proponents in the
state Senate saw fit to tell the voters before the
2003 elections that the Commonwealth’s fiscal
condition was so grave that $4 billion in new taxes
had to be approved at this session.
This
brought Wilder to his main point. The voters have
been denied any effective opportunity to participate
in this momentous decision about whether to enact
the largest tax increase in Virginia history. Even
worse, they were assured by some of these same tax
increase proponents that taxes would not be raised.
Warner
and Chichester consider a massive tax increase so
important now that they are willing to risk a
shutdown of state government if they don’t get
one. Yet, they were so unconcerned about the
situation in 2003 that they refused to give Virginia
voters a chance to have their say when it mattered.
It’s safe to suggest that some of these
politicians wouldn’t be in office now if they had
declared their support for a tax increase.
When
politicians say whatever they want to win a
nomination or general election with every intention
of doing something quite different afterwards, it is
more than a breach of trust and honor. It destroys
the republican form of government Virginians fought
a War for Independence to secure.
Warner
makes no apology for reneging on his solemn pledge
not to raise taxes; nevertheless, he has the
audacity to accuse Wilder, Allen and House Speaker
William Howell of being irresponsible for suggesting
that the voters, who were told in 2001 and 2003 that
there would not be a state tax increase, be given a
chance to approve or disapprove any new taxes by a
referendum vote. Warner himself supported a tax
referendum in his 2001 campaign.
A
tax referendum would, in my opinion, amount to an
unconstitutional delegation of legislative power,
but that doesn’t weaken Wilder’s central point.
Because tax proponents have misled the voters, their
insistence on a tax hike in the ongoing budget
negotiations lacks any moral force.
If
there is irresponsible conduct to be condemned, it
is the reprehensible and arrogant behavior of those
politicians who won a nomination or election in 2001
and 2003 by hiding their real intentions on taxes.
They should not be heard to argue now that other
elected officials must accept a position never
presented to the voters.
What’s
the point of elections if politicians suffer no
consequences for deception and broken campaign
promises?
--
March 15, 2004
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