Senior Republican legislators justified the funding provisions of the Comprehensive Transportation Funding and Reform act of 2007 on the grounds that they had to show voters that they were “doing something” to tackle traffic congestion. Otherwise, they said, they were at risk of losing several Northern Virginia seats in the General Assembly. After the uproar over Abuser Fees, challenges to the constitutionality of several aspects of the legislation and, now, an overt revolt of fiscal conservatives, Northern Virginia Republicans could still be at risk.
At a Tuesday press conference, a group of conservative activists chastised the GOP’s legislative leadership and vowed to withhold their support in the fall elections, even if it meant electing Democrats.
“This bill is a dramatic policy failure,” said John Taylor, president of the Virginia Institute for Public Policy at a press conference Tuesday. “We believe it is unconstitutional and demonstrated a political ineptness that is stunning in an election year. The Republican grass roots needs to ask their leadership, ‘What were you thinking?’ “
Taylor was joined by other foes of higher taxes, including Paul Jost, chairman of the Virginia Club for Growth. The Mainstream Media doesn’t normally pay much attention to the public policy prescriptions of Taylor and his friends, whom they typically write off as fringe radicals, but it’s big news any time anybody bashes the General Assembly’s GOP leadership, so the press attended the press conference in force.
Washington Post
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Norfolk Virginian-Pilot
Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
Washington Times
Associated Press
J. Scott Leake, a spokesman for the Senate Republican leadership, defended the legislators. “It’s very easy to be against things,” he said. “It’s a lot harder to come up with your own solutions. Replacing who wields the gavel in the legislature is not going to build any more roads or ease any congestion.”
Fair point. But that’s no excuse for violating a fundamental precepts of fiscal conservatism: making taxes transparent to taxpayers. What I find particularly disturbing about the actions of GOP leaders this year was their willingness to raise revenues as long as they could avoid calling it a “statewide tax hike.” Fees are OK, penalties are OK, a welter of regional tax hikes are OK. In other words, the GOP leaders wanted to have their cake and eat it, too. They wanted to say that they managed to raise revenues without anyone really noticing.
I’m sorry, but that’s just a farce. Not only is it bad policy, it insults the voters — especially fiscal conservatives. Conservatives, the backbone of the Republican Party, are incredibly dispirited today. A decade of GOP control over the General Assembly has seen nothing but steady increases in spending and taxes. Former Republicans, like myself, are deserting the Party in droves. We would rather call ourselves independents than align ourselves with the Republican brand of Business As Usual, tax-and-spend politics. What separates Republicans from Democrats is not the principle of fiscal conservatism — both parties give lip service to that principle only to violate it. What separates them is their differing constituencies — the demographic and interest groups to whom they pay their boodle.
Sorry, but that’s not what we’re looking for in our elected leaders.
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