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Preston Bryant is a Republican who has represented Lynchburg and part of Amherst County in the Virginia House of Delgates since 1996.

More than a few good men

By Preston Bryant
APRIL 12, 2004

This past week has been a very difficult one for nearly 20 Republicans in the House of Delegates. They’ve had to look within and around themselves, weigh various options, consider consequences, draw conclusions, and ultimately make decisions they’d most certainly rather have not.

At issue, of course, was their decision to take a very public step to promote a plan that could lead to a budget compromise between the House and Senate, thus ending an embarrassingly long standoff between the two bodies that threatens Virginia’s creditworthiness as well as an outright government shutdown.

Their move to support a tax-reform package that they believed to be in the best interest not only of their districts but of their state was met with unpredictable levels of derision and even more unpredictable levels of support.

Among fellow Republicans, the gang of so-called “mavericks” has been raked over rhetorical hot coals (slowly). They’ve had their party loyalty questioned (repeatedly). And they’ve had their political careers threatened (daily).

All of this has come through every medium: private meetings, public forums, telephone calls, faxed memos, direct mail, radio ads, and e-mails. There also have been the prolonged how-dare-you stares that tend to say as much or more than even the most stinging barbs.

Matched against the deliberate cursing and stares, however, have been the spontaneous words of encouragement offered from perfect strangers in everyday settings. Each of the nearly 20 Republicans who’ve decided to break from a caucus about three times their number has reported how low moments were reversed upward by some unexpectedly generous or overly supportive word or deed. They’ve received standing ovations at home from business groups and others attending town hall-style meetings, they’ve been the recipients of public kudos thrown their way on editorial pages, and they’ve received literally thousands of atta-boy e-mails. One even had flowers left on his doorstep with an accompanying note demanding that he not only stay the course, but steer it.

It may be that more folks than previously thought do indeed realize how tough it is for so few to step away from the more than 40 others with whom you’ve long stood arm-in-arm to defend most every tenet of the broader philosophy that has defined the GOP for as long as memory serves.

The nearly 20 House Republicans who hold the key to breaking the budget impasse have hung together for a number of urbi et orbi reasons. There are their obvious concerns for our grand ol’ commonwealth, which today has an increasingly sophisticated population and economy that demand a level of service and kind of infrastructure that the current budgetary structure can no longer provide. There also is their abiding respect for the General Assembly – and especially its House – that for the first time since its founding nearly four centuries ago failed to agree upon and pass a budget for the upcoming year or biennium.

Beyond these honorable reasons, though, are several much more practical ones. Let’s not forget that the state has nearly 100,000 workers whose daily labors help define the quality of our lives. There’s also the fact that about a third of the entire state budget in one way or another flows back to counties, cities, and towns all across Virginia, and these local governments can’t finalize their own budgets until legislators finish theirs. Equally pressing is the fact that by about mid-April, local school boards must decide which teachers will have jobs in the new academic year. Without knowing how much money they have to spend on teachers, they can’t settle tens of thousands of teachers’ contracts.

Whether for philosophical or practical reasons, the delegates who’ve charted a mildly independent course have done so while adhering to their long-held fiscal beliefs. Still believing that Virginians’ should have as small a government as possible that’s financed by as few taxes as possible, they’ve crafted a compromise revenue proposal that responsibly and realistically funds what everyone admits are the state’s core needs.

It’s all built upon a half-penny increase in the state sales tax, a modest but acceptable bump in tobacco taxes, and a slight rise in the tax on new home purchases. There’s also the closing of some corporate tax loopholes and repeal of some tax breaks long enjoyed by some of Virginia’s biggest and most profitable businesses. In exchange, however, there’s a one-cent cut in the sales tax on groceries, an income-tax cut for every Virginian, an outright elimination of the dreaded “death tax,” and the repeal of the income-tax penalty against married couples.

When all is said and done, the average consumer will pay less in taxes because the half-cent increase in the sales tax on non-food items is more than offset by the savings from the sales-tax cut on groceries and the various income-tax cuts. To boot, the extra revenue that’ll be generated by a naturally expanding economy will allow the governor and legislators to make good on needed investments in education, public safety and health care.

Stepping out from a conventional pack and taking an unconventional position is never easy. In fact, it’s downright hard. A bit scary, even.

But it may well be the actions of the errant few that, ironically, will end up benefiting even their harshest critics. Because it’s the mavericks, you see, who’ll take the hits for ending a budget spectacle that’s leaving a pox on everyone’s house.

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