I'll see your Republican State Senator and raise you a Democratic Governor

So Mark Warner is touting his bipartisan support (without noticing that His Lordship John Chichester was just about the worst Republican he could cite as an example) in his campaign.  To hear him say it, just about everybody was just peachy about his massive 2004 tax increase – except for the old curmudgeon Jim Gilmore.

 

Well, Warner may have won over a retired RINO State Senator, but his 2004 tax increase had its critics.  In fact, it had big-name critics – big-name Republican and Democratic critics.

 

Taking a trip down memory lane, we go to March of 2004 (Free Lance-Star, emphasis added):

 

Former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, a Democrat, and his Republican successor, Sen. George Allen, said in a joint news conference that Gov. Mark Warner and several lawmakers who have pushed for tax increases should have put forth those tax proposals before last November’s general election.
 
. . .
 
Wilder and Allen accused Warner of breaking campaign promises not to raise taxes, and suggested some lawmakers re-elected last fall did the same thing.

“Because the people of Virginia were promised their taxes would not be raised, we believe our fellow citizens deserve an opportunity to vote by referendum before such broken promises are enacted into law,” Wilder said.

Since it’s too late for the tax proposals to be part of a general election debate, Wilder and Allen said, the General Assembly should pass a base budget that covers core services without a tax increase and then put all additional revenue and spending proposals on the ballot. They noted that Warner and many lawmakers supported a 2002 referendum in which Northern Virginia and
Hampton Roads voters rejected a sales-tax hike.

“If those who advocate billions in record income, sales, cigarette and gas taxes truly believe they have the support of the public, then our proposal to do what the governor and General Assembly provided in 2002–require approval by referendum before any new taxes become law–should not be feared by them at all,” Wilder said.

That wasn’t all Wilder said either (Growls):

 

Mr. Wilder also said, “The effort to exclude the everyday citizens from the tax debates has been so successful that the voice of the hardworking taxpayer is hardly being heard in Richmond today.”

Finally, there was this coup de grace (Reason Foundation):

Wilder further added that he would not have endorsed Warner had he known Warner would champion tax hikes.

“If I had any idea that he would be raising the taxes beyond what he promised to me,” Wilder said, “I would not have been there.”

Ouch!

 

So let’s recap.  Doug Wilder, a Democrat who as Governor appointed Warner to lead the DPVA in 1993, considered the 2004 tax hike to be “broken promises” which ensured that “the voice of the hardworking taxpayer is hardly being heard in Richmond,” and angered him so much that he said he wouldn’t have endorsed Warner if he knew of it ahead of time.

 

Oh, and one more thing.  When Doug Wilder won his first, historic statewide race for Lieutenant Governor in 1985, guess whom he beat?

Cross-posted to Bloggers 4 JimGilmore

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