Republicans are asserting their natural leadership

In this gubernatorial election year, Republicans find themselves in an unusual situation. Republicans are clearly the majority party in Virginia. President George W. Bush won the state handily last November. Sixty of the state’s 100 delegates are Republicans, along with 24 of the 40 senators (if one includes John Chichester in the total). Republicans have controlled the House of Delegates and the Senate for three sessions.

Yet, in the eyes of many Virginians, including many who have a natural affinity for the Republican creed of smaller and less intrusive government, Republicans still have to prove themselves.

Starting in 2001, the Republican Party of Virginia has had its share of difficulties, mostly self-inflicted. While there was never a “budget crisis” or a government shutdown that year, the impression this small group of Republicans gave to the Commonwealth was devastating — a miniscule group of moderate Republican senators held up, and killed altogether, the process for amending the state’s biennial budget. Republicans were in control of the governorship and both houses of the General Assembly, and they seemingly could not perform the comparatively simply task of writing budget amendments.

Also in 2001, the Republican Party saw its speaker of the house resign and had one of its staff members prosecuted for listening in on a conference call. The cumulative result of all this was the election of Democratic Mark Warner, who used the Republicans’ bad reputation to blame them for his tax increase. Small wonder that, for many Virginians, the Republicans are the gang that can’t shoot straight.

But I find it gratifying to see the Republican leadership in Richmond finally getting some things right, especially on the car tax issue. Virginians have endorsed the elimination of the car tax in two statewide elections: in 1997, when they overwhelmingly elected Jim Gilmore as governor, and in 2001, when they elected Warner, who promised to proceed with the car tax elimination (a promise that was noticeably absent in his opening speech to the legislature last month).

Speaker Bill Howell promised last week there would be a vote this month to fully implement the car tax cut. This is a welcome assertion of leadership by the state’s top Republican office holder — and one that has left Warner virtually tongue-tied in response. It is also an important statement of public policy.

Pro-tax Democrats such as Warner, and pro-tax Republicans such as Chichester, have always had the same problem with the car tax elimination: Once completely gone, a tax is almost impossible to restore. For example, the Republicans’ food tax reduction is welcome, but a future legislature could easily raise it again because it never was completely eliminated.

The car tax is not the only area in which Republicans are starting to assert their natural leadership. Republican plans to eliminate the death (or “estate”) tax in Virginia also are advancing, with bills from Sen. Emmet Hanger (R-Mount Solon) and Del. Robert Tata (R-Virginia Beach) seeking to “conform” the Virginia estate tax to a maximum of the federal tax. In other words, when Bush gets Congress to eliminate the federal death tax, it will be eliminated here in Virginia as well. The state Senate also has repealed the obnoxious requirement that businesses pay their July tax bill a month early.

Republicans are setting the agenda on other issues, too. Last week, the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee approved a constitutional amendment proposed by Sen. Bill Bolling (R-Hanover) to prevent raids on the state’s Transportation Trust Fund and require money from that fund be reserved for (Can you imagine?) transportation needs. The bill is before Chichester’s Finance Committee, and when you learn that its passage by that committee is uncertain, you know all you need to about Senate Finance.

The General Assembly also defeated a proposal to restrict the right to keep and bear arms by requiring additional criminal background checks at gun shows. Virginia already requires instant checks, which both prevent criminals from buying weapons and protects the rights of law-abiding gun owners. In the face of Republican renewed assertiveness, Warner has been forced into the role of Naysayer-in-Chief. He is dismissing the full elimination of the car tax, the same full elimination he ran on in 2001. His official Web site contains no comments on current legislation, but instead it brags that Virginia is now doing as well as Utah in government performance. Warner also takes credit for 35 new jobs in Norton.

Warner will try to reclaim the spotlight when the legislature adjourns, but he will find his agenda filled with Republican initiatives waiting for his signature. Either way, he will be acknowledging the renewal of Republican leadership.

And just in time for statewide elections.