Two posts have sprung up on Right Wing Liberal and Spank That Donkey over some comments I made on RWL regarding the 2007 transportation package (HB 3202).
It’s true that deals were cut between House and Senate members in order to get HB 3202 passed. The House leadership promised blanket endorsements of incumbent Senators in exchange for their vote in favor of HB 3202. This should come as no surprise. Deals are as much a part of politics as campaigning. It’s how things are done. Can deal making be abused? Absolutely! It’s up to the voters to decide if what’s accomplished is either good or bad.
In the General Assembly, many deals are based on region. I might vote for (or against) something that affects residents in Northern Virginia, and is of little personal interest to me or my constituents. In exchange, my counterparts in Northern Virginia would support a future effort of mine to benefit Western Virginia.
Some may find this practice troublesome. But they shouldn’t. Think about it. The Senate has 40 members. If those 40 Senators only cast votes to benefit their districts or themselves, the legislative body would never accomplish anything.
Many have asked why I supported HB 3202. I’d be lying if I said the endorsement wasn’t appealing at the time. Of course in hindsight, that agreement was worthless. But the faux endorsement was not the only or even the most important reason for my vote. I believed that having a Republican crafted transportation package was absolutely essential to proving Republicans could lead on this important issue. It was also vital to the re-election of vulnerable Republican Senators including Cuccinelli, Devolites-Davis, O’Brien and Rerras.
Senate members from Northern Virginia and Tidewater were very much in favor of this bill and desperately wanted it to pass. I held my nose and voted for the bill because it was supported by the regional delegations and I thought maybe it was the beginning of our fractured caucus working together.
http://rightwingliberal.wordpress.com/2008/01/04/if-youre-not-paying-attention-to-the-rwl-std-bell-dialogue-trialogue-youre-missing-out/
http://www.spankthatdonkey.com/spankthatdonkey2/2008/1/5/lets-cut-a-deal-va-general-assembly.html
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4 comments:
Senator Bell:
It's your 2006 vote for SB708 I have serious issue with...
but the overall point is that none of this would be necessary if ya'll stuck to a small govt, low taxes philosophy each session, and looked to return excess revenues to the citizens...
I dare say if GOP Senate Leadership had finished off the car tax using the surpluses from 2005, 2006, and dedicating some from 2007... and not taken the House into marathon sessions, ya'll would have never been challenged..... much less lose your majority in the Senate...
The people are not stupid..... they know ya'll got our money... the least ya'll could have done was paid us lipservice that car tax would be eliminated....
ya'll told the lower taxes wing to take a hike, and "like your new taxes"..... problem is ya'll weren't just showing the lower tax folks who was boss.... ulitmately the electorate delivered a message to the GOP Senate Leadership....
I was more upset at the folks who were asking you to go along with this than you, but it should have been obvious even back then that Howell et al were wrong on both principle and their analysis of what was happening.
Lest we forget, northern Virginia and Hampton Roads emphatically rejected regional tax hikes on Election Day 2002 (voting against the wishes and Mark and John Warner, I might add). I just wish someone from outside these two regions might have taken into account what those people actually wanted. As it turned out, though, they made their position clear by knocking out Rerras, D-D, and O'Brien, and handing the Senate to the Democrats.
I know my last point sounds a little weird, after all, the folks elected by the constituents should speak for them, but it should have been fairly clear the elected officials were NOT speaking for the people here.
Still if the GOP learns the most important lesson (i.e., a bad plan is worse than no plan), it won't be a total loss.
I agree on one level with you two--we should always learn form past mistakes. You become better in leading or representing the people if you don't.
I disagree that the electorate punished the senate for pushing for tax increases. The four senate losses did not go to anti-tax opponents. We were punished for not providing the leadership they wanted. That failure of leadership came from both the house and senate. It takes two to tango!
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