by Kerry Dougherty
We all understand that Virginia Democrats are smarting. They honestly believed that Virginia was a blue state and they could nominate a sleazy Clinton-crony retread and still win the governor’s race.
They lost and their criticism of Governor Glenn Youngkin borders on derangement.
Would it kill them to be gracious? To put aside their bitterness long enough to give Youngkin props when he does something undeniably good?
If not that, how about if they just shut up and drop the petty partisanship for a few days?
No sooner had Youngkin announced this week that he was donating his first quarter salary to the Virginia Law Enforcement Assistance Program, an organization “dedicated to helping law enforcement officers and first responders who have undergone traumatic critical incidents in the line of duty or inter personal lives” than the sniping began.
There was this, from the official Twitter feed of the Democratic Party of Virginia:
Ten ways Governor Youngkin should have spent the $46,000 he wasted on Monday: pic.twitter.com/HGj9MITrj3
— Virginia Democrats (@vademocrats) April 6, 2022
“The police will waste it all on Krispy Kreme,” snarked one member of the defund-the-police party.
Another called Youngkin’s donation “chump change.”
One Democrat had a single word for the governor: “Idiot!!”
A Richmond journalist took a slightly different tack:
We pay our public officials to do jobs and in exchange we hold them accountable.
Refusing that paycheck shows a disdain for the job and the people (the public) they serve. https://t.co/Fkku4c4Vfa
— BK (@BradKutner) April 6, 2022
Oh, please. This is Youngkin’s money. He earned it. He can do whatever he likes with it.
I checked and couldn’t find any record of Ralph Northam or Terry McAuliffe donating their salaries to charity. That’s all right, no one expected them to give their money away. When you work and get paid, what you do with fruits of your labor is your business.
Look, Youngkin promised during the campaign that if elected he would donate his salary to charity. Forbes estimates Youngkin’s net worth at about $400 million. He can afford to forego his $175,00 salary. This was a campaign promise made and a promise kept.
It’s not without precedent, either. Wealthy politicians have often declined their salaries or donated them.
George Washington attempted to refuse his salary, but Congress insisted he keep it. President Herbert Hoover donated his entire presidential salary to charities that were helping the poor during the Great Depression. John F. Kennedy donated his salary to charities such as the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Barack Obama donated a large portion of his salary to charity and Donald Trump donated his to various federal agencies, such as the National Park Service.
Montana’s multimillionaire Governor Greg Gianforte is donating his salary to a drug treatment facility in his state.
These philanthropic gestures ought to be applauded. Unless you simply hate the rich, of course.
Fact is, the voters of Virginia elected Glenn Youngkin. Yet he didn’t get a five- minute honeymoon before the press was blasting him as they acted as the press agents for disgruntled Democrats.
Three months in, and lost in the wilderness, the opposition party is now slamming Youngkin for his charitable instincts.
This is not a winning political strategy. Mocking a man for his philanthropy is a big mistake. Unless your goal is to make yourself look small and bitter.
If that’s the case, job well done, Dems.
This column has been republished with permission from Kerry: Unemployed & Unedited.
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