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Warner touts bipartisanship in U.S. Senate run
A self-described “unemployed job-seeker,” Mark Warner is once again approaching politics from a businessman’s point of view.
Warner, the former governor and current Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, sat down with Times Community reporters on June 12 to talk about Virginia politics, oil prices and the business of government.
“My view of a fiscal conservative is someone who pays your bills on time and meets your obligations,” he said. “You don’t punt that to the next guy.”
It was one of many digs at his opponent, Republican Jim Gilmore, who preceded Warner as governor. As governor, Gilmore made good on his campaign promise to phase out the car tax but the endeavor proved to be far more expensive than predicted. The massive car tax cuts, coupled with spending increases, resulted in a huge hole in the budget that didn’t materialize until after Warner took office in 2002.
Warner successfully pushed for what he calls “tax reform” and what Gilmore supporters call “the largest tax increase in our history.” Over the last few weeks, Gilmore has been traveling the state, hammering away at his primary message that Warner raised taxes.
Warner said that if Gilmore wants to make the election about which governor did a better job, he’s happy to oblige. But, he said, voters trying to make a decision in the upcoming Senate election might do better to look to the future.
Energy
Asked about his top priorities if elected, Warner said Americans need to see their government actually accomplish something — anything.
“The country needs a win,” he said, adding that the people have lost faith in their government’s ability to solve problems. What Washington really needs to do, he said, is to pick a problem — any problem — and fix it.
Energy is at the top of his list.
While we can’t just turn our backs on oil, it’s time to start looking at alternatives, he said, arguing that it is counter-productive to buy oil from countries that hate us. In the next century, the oil that is left will be harder to access, more expensive and in places that aren’t friendly to America.
“Why are we funding the guys who are attacking our troops?” he asked. “The best thing we can do in terms of showing support for our troops is stop funding the bad guys.”
Drilling in Anwar, an idea supported by Gilmore, isn’t a viable alternative, Warner said, partly because it would take 10 years before any oil could be obtained.
Working to position his opponent as behind-the-times, Warner said Gilmore’s proposals for more drilling are “totally 20th-century solutions to a 21st-century problem.”
The only real answer, he said, is to look to the future, not the past.
We should concentrate, he said, on “doing what this country does best: Investing in innovation, and then letting the market drive it.”
In the short term, industry needs to invest in new research and development aimed at higher-mileage vehicles. The newest hybrids will get upward of 100 miles to the gallon and could be ready to roll within 24 months, said Warner, who drives a Lexus hybrid.
In the long term, biofuels may be the way to go, he said, but added that he doesn’t think ethanol is a good idea, in part because sales of the corn-based gasoline additive affect the price of food.
On that, he and Gilmore agree. Gilmore is also opposed to ethanol, though he has been painting Warner as a supporter.
Warner did mention switchgrass, which grows abundantly in parts of Virginia, as a possible biofuel for the 21st century. That puts him firmly in the camp of President George W. Bush, who touted switchgrass during his State of the Union address two years ago.
But the Democratic candidate doesn’t mind siding with Republicans.
Bipartisanship
“I couldn’t imagine as a business guy that I would dismiss ideas because they have an ‘R’ or a ‘D’ attached to them,” he said.
Warner’s track record on bipartisanship is well known, and as he talked, he was still flying high from the recent endorsements of two of the state’s most prominent Republicans: former state Sen. John Chichester and former Delegate Vince Callahan, the two most powerful men in the General Assembly under both Gilmore and Warner.
Building on the Republican support he had as governor will be important if he wins the U.S. Senate seat, Warner said, pointing out that even if Democrats make a clean sweep of the White House, Senate and Congress in November, they won’t be able to govern without the support of Republicans.
“There needs to be a group of bipartisan radical centrists,” he said, suggesting that Americans are tired of partisans on both sides who refuse to compromise or work with the opposing party.
“I think people are absolutely yearning to be part of something bigger than themselves,” he said. "They will absolutely step up to be part of a country. They won’t step up to be part of a party.”
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