State GOP Sends Big Guns to Defend Party Majority

By Mason Adams and Michael Sluss, The Roanoke Times, Va.

Oct. 9–Virginia Republican leaders stopped in Roanoke on Monday as part of a statewide tour designed to counter Democratic attacks and protect their majorities in the upcoming General Assembly elections.

U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, Attorney General Bob McDonnell, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, Senate Majority Leader Walter Stosch, House Speaker William Howell and Virginia Republican Party Chairman John Hager spent 40 minutes at Roanoke Regional Airport elaborating on the achievements of the state Republican Party and the dangers that could threaten the state if Democrats win the Virginia Senate this fall.

Democrats need four seats to win a majority in the Senate. With changing demographics in Northern Virginia and voter dissatisfaction with national Republicans, they’ve got a good chance to win control of the Senate for the first time since 1997. Doing so would give Democrats control of at least one General Assembly house when legislative districts are redrawn in 2011. They are also looking to slice away at the more substantial Republican majority in the House of Delegates.

But Bolling, McDonnell and their colleagues, including a slate of state and local candidates, argued that voters are better off sticking with Republicans.

McDonnell cited accolades from Governing Magazine, Education Week and Forbes — the same sources acclaimed by Gov. Tim Kaine and other Democrats in recent years.

"I would say to you that’s not because of Governor Kaine and Governor [Mark] Warner; that’s because of 10 years of outstanding Republican leadership and Republican rule in the General Assembly of Virginia," McDonnell said.

Stosch targeted Kaine, who recently suggested dipping into the state’s "rainy day" fund to help make up a $641 million budget shortfall, even as he pursues a targeted expansion of prekindergarten education. Kaine has said the fund could help the state avoid cuts to programs such as clean drinking water projects, children’s mental health treatment and campus security.

Stosch, however, said a continuing effort to look for government inefficiency could reduce the shortfall without depleting the rainy-day fund.

"It’s not raining," Stosch said.

Howell boasted about an omnibus transportation package passed earlier this year that included a $10 increase in vehicle registration fees while applying a number of regional fees to Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. That package also included new "abusive-driver fees" that have met with cries of protest around the state.

House and Senate Republicans have made a show of unity throughout the campaign, despite bruising budget fights that led to extended legislative sessions in 2004 and 2006.

Goodlatte warned that if Democrats were to win the Senate, "influence in this part of the state will be lost."

He hinted that with the retirement of several key leaders, Sens. William Wampler, R-Bristol, and Emmett Hanger, R-Augusta County, will likely move up to become chairmen of the Finance and Agriculture committees, respectively.

"If the other party were to take control, the chairman of the Senate agricultural committee would be from Alexandria," Goodlatte said. "I’m not sure what they grow in Alexandria. I’m sure there’s something they’re growing — flowerpots on window sills there — [but] I don’t think they really get it."

House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong, D-Henry County, fired back at the Republicans, saying: "My friends on the other side are right — they do have ideas. They’re just bad ideas."

Armstrong said House Republican leaders fought efforts by Warner to pass a 2004 tax increase that supporters considered essential to preserving the state’s perfect credit rating and funding core services.

Armstrong also blamed Republicans for incorporating the controversial driver fees into an omnibus transportation funding bill this year, even though Kaine also supported the fees. Those are just two areas Democrats have identified in trying to paint their GOP rivals as obstructionists.

Kaine spokeswoman Delacey Skinner defended the governor’s plan to phase in funding for a targeted expansion of prekindergarten education, saying the current budget shortfall should not stop the state from making investments.

mason.adams@roanoke.com 981-3253

mike.sluss@roanoke.com (804) 697-1585

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