Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (1)
Gilmore kicks off Senate campaign in Manassas
Former Gov. Jim Gilmore (R) kicked off his Senate campaign in Manassas on Tuesday, traveling to former opponent Bob Marshall’s home turf as part of a three-city tour of the state.Two weeks ago, Gilmore defeated Prince William Delegate Marshall in a contentious primary for the Republican nomination for Senate. Marshall supporters had compared Gilmore to Democratic nominee Mark Warner, saying Gilmore isn’t conservative or pro-life enough to represent the party.
Earlier this week, Gilmore took another body blow when former Sen. John Chichester and former Delegate Vince Callahan, the two most powerful Republicans in the General Assembly when Gilmore was governor, endorsed Warner.
On Tuesday, Gilmore fired back.
Flanked by Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell (R) and Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling (R), Gilmore focused on energy prices and taxes, while highlighting his “working-class background.”
“This United States Senate race is all about working families in Virginia. I know all about working families in Virginia – I’ve been part of one all my life,” Gilmore said, stressing the difference between himself and multi-millionaire Warner.
Bolling, McDonnell and Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Jeff Frederick (a former Prince William delegate) spent more time hammering Warner, telling the friendly crowd that the former governor is untrustworthy when it comes to taxes.
While running for governor, Warner repeatedly promised not to raise taxes, Frederick reminded the audience. But after he was elected, the story changed.
“Once safely elected, as we all know, Mark Warner went on to burden hard-working Virginia families with the largest tax increase in our history,” Frederic said, going on to warn voters about Warner’s “insatiable appetite for more of your money.”
The Gilmore-Warner relationship is a complicated one and is open to interpretation. When running for governor, Gilmore promised to phase out the car tax. He kept that promise after taking office in 1998 and the car tax phase-out proceeded until 2001. By then, it had become clear that a full phase-out would be much more expensive than anticipated and some reports indicated politicians on both sides of the aisle had intentionally underestimated the cost of the popular campaign promise.
By 2001, the economy had taken a downturn and that, on top of the inflated costs, prompted many in both parties to insist that the car tax be frozen at its current level, meaning the state would pick up a little less than half of each car tax bill and the owner would pay the rest. Gilmore, however, insisted that the phase-out continue as planned with the state picking up 70 percent of the bill.
An epic legislative battle ensued with Gilmore and the conservatives pushing for 70 percent. Democrats and moderate Republicans, primarily Senate Republicans, were on the other side, insisting that the additional tax cut would be fiscally irresponsible and would ruin the state’s economy.
Led by Chichester, the moderates faced off against Gilmore, the 2001 session went into overtime and eventually, Gilmore won the 70-percent car tax rollback he had sought.
The fight was a serious blow to the state’s Republican Party, however, and soon after, Democrat Mark Warner swept to victory in the next gubernatorial election.
When Warner took office in 2002, the state’s economy was in bad shape, a problem Gilmore foes attributed to the outgoing-governor’s tax policies. Warner successfully pushed for what he called “tax reform” and opponents called “tax increases.” He balanced the budget and kept the 70-percent car tax cut but the resulting budget surplus prompted many to accuse Warner of overtaxing the people.
Two years after Warner left office, the two former governors are finally facing off directly. Both sides accuse the other of having spun the budget numbers to make the economy look better (Gilmore) or worse (Warner) than it was, in order to further his own political goals.
Whether Gilmore ruined the economy or Warner overtaxed it is open to interpretation and neither the candidates nor the pundits agree.
What is clear is that Gilmore has an uphill battle. He left office with an uncertain personal future and a fractured party. Two weeks ago, he was almost beaten by an underfunded Marshall and the conservative wing of his own party. Now, he must contend with Warner, who left office after successfully hand-picking his own successor (Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine) and has enjoyed continued popularity and a massive campaign war chest.
Nevertheless, Gilmore, who is billing himself as the underdog, remains optimistic that he will win and help to ease the burden on Virginians.
“People are calling out for help and we’re going to help,” he said.
"(a former Prince William delegate)" Jeff Frederick is still a Delegate, he hasn't resigned yet as far as I know.
Posted by OPDitch
Report Offensive Content
You must be logged in to post a comment.