By torpedoing the Republican transportation compromise late last week, Sen. John H. Chichester, R-Northumberland, has steered internal GOP politics into a radical new direction. Terrified about facing the voters this fall, Republicans of disparate political viewpoints had overcome their differences to craft a far-reaching package of transportation funding and reforms. By allying with Democrats to kill the deal, Chichester deprived his fellow Republicans of their political cover.
Chichester critics have been calling the old warhorse a RINO, Republican In Name Only, for several years now. Defenders responded by disparaging his foes as ideologues opposed to a “big tent” party. If the Republicans wanted to stay in power, the argument went, they had to accommodate the moderates in the party.
What happens to that argument now that Chichester has abandoned the party? GOP legislators’ backs were against the wall this winter to devise some kind of transportation solution. (For the record, I’m not defending that legislative package, which was a mess. I’m writing purely as an observer of political dynamics right now.) Unless some new, last-minute compromise can be cobbled together, a dozen or more Republican lawmakers look like sitting ducks in the upcoming elections. There is no disguising the fact that Chichester put his priorities above those of the party. When the survival of the GOP majority was at stake, he joined the enemy.
Understandably, many Republicans are enraged. In the previous post, I published a letter by Mike Wade, chairman of the Third Congressional Committee, expressing his dismay. Wade’s call to “take action against Sen. Chichester” will be the first of many. Says Wade: “We must work statewide to remove this pariah.”
Emotions are raw, and I anticipate a blood-letting in the Republican Party during the primaries. Sen. Russell Potts, R-Winchester, Chichester’s faithful big-government ally, has attracted two opponents. Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Mount Solon, and Sen. Walter Stosch, R-Henrico, two other soft-on-taxes Republicans, also have credible challengers. I would be amazed if Chichester did not inspire a substantive opponent as well.
In his last election campaign, Chichester won easily over an unknown candidate who came across as a far-right cultural conservative. But running for re-election this time will be much tougher for several reasons. First, Chichester has showed his true colors: He can no longer pretend to be opposed to tax increases, which, astoundingly, he did four years ago. Second, having abandoned the GOP on the crucial transportation issue, he has angered many in the rank and file, the people who dominate the primary process. Third, by putting GOP control of the General Assembly in jeopardy, he has incurred the animus of Republicans across the state, not merely in his district. Any credible candidate who chose to run against Chichester in the GOP primary would be showered with money.
In time, it will become clear that the “failure of Republicans” to govern in the General Assembly was not a failure of “Republicans” — it was the refusal of John Chichester, the Byrd machine veteran turned Republican who never lost his penchant for big government, to compromise with members of his own party. A growing number of Republicans will conclude, I predict, that dumping Chichester is essential to the survival of the GOP as majority party. As long as he occupies the powerful post of Senate Finance chair, the GOP will never be able to govern. Purging Chichester and sub-alterns like Potts is the only way to establish a functioning majority, as opposed to a nominal majority, and pass the kind of legislation that will win credibility with voters.
Update: In a sign of the times, there’s a new blog, Chichester Must Go. Let’s see how much traffic it gets.