Sean Connaughton and Responsible Republicanism

For the last few days I have been mulling over the state of the VAGOP, looking and blogs, reading newspapes, and generally trying to figure out where we are and what problems we face. Clearing, the 2005 cycle was not good, especially in the special elections afterwards. Victories by Mark Herring and Shannon Valentine rubbed salt especially in the wound, taking usually "safe" GOP districts over to the Dems.

Now, remember that I am coming from a Northern Virginia perspective here. Its easy to clamor for Reagan conservativism and raw GOP principles in Buchanan county. But up here, things are different. And whether the rest of the state likes it or not, statewide races will be won or lost up here, too. As I was doing my little research I came across one word that seemed to sum everything up.

"Responsible."

I think that is what we have lost in our party. When we followed George Allen's storm of the Richmond Bastille in 1993, it was to bring back sanity and responsibility to politics and government. Cut out of control taxes, bring some much needed reform to welfare, as well as slim down government. Instead, now the Republcian party in Virginia seems to be on the outside looking in despite controlling the GA. We are in the position where we are the party of "no, no, no." It appears we have no answers other than "don't raise taxes," but we can't even stop that! We have lost our responsibilty. Instead, we fill our ballots with candidates who are "friends" of Allen (Kilgore, Kate Griffin) or Gov. Gilmore (Bolling)--and when we aren't doing that, we are tearing each other apart in vicious primaries. Instead of being the stewards of good government, Republicans have become crippled by special interests, especiaelly the Club for Growth. Was Gary Reese that bad of a Delegate? Doesn't it say something that Jim Dillard did not endorse Michael Golden? Is our party so intent on being "conservative" that we blackball candiadtes tailor-made for this district. Look, I'm as conservative as the next guy, but we can't do anything if Democrats are sitting in those districts, and that is what is happening.

That is why we need Sean Connaughton as Chairman of the VA Republican Party. He holds no alligiances to the titans of the party (Warner, Allen, Gilmore, Cantor), he is as comfortable as a conservative as he is a moderate, comes from a great county that has it all--rural areas, congested roads, and true suburbia. He is young, and could bring some fresh life into the state.

The problem is vocabulary. While getting stuck in the verbal jabs of "conservative" or "moderate," the real clevage is between "resonsible," and "irresponsible." We need adults with vision who can lead by doing rather than just saying. Being a conservative means more than "no taxes," it means a real budget plan to control spending and still fund all the necessities of the state. Being pro-life means standing by our principles while not using it as a sword to cut away candidates who might be lukewarm on the issue but otherwise would be outstanding, especially up here. Being a Republican means more than what we are doing. What i means is to be responsible, but right now the people of this state, especially in NOVA, sae Mark Warner and the Democrats as the "responsible" stewards of sensible budgets and leadership. Of course, Tim Kaine is quickly fluttering that away as he throws more and more money at transportation that cannot be solved with dollars alone.

The good news is that all these seats that we lost will be up again in '07, and by no means are the districts safe for the Dems. Valentine, Marsden, Poisson, Bulova, Herring and the rest will be up, and they are vunerbale if we can get the righr candidates to run. But I am afraid that if Republicans are going to dominate this state, we need to understand that we need to tailor our candidates to their districts. A conservative in Patrick Country won't win in Fairfax. Conservatives can win in NoVa, but they might not look like the ones Phil Rodokanakis wants them to look like. That is why we need delegates like Gary Reese and Jim Dillard. Nobody seemed to question their Republicanism before they voted for the tax increases. Sure it was a bad vote, and I'm not happy about it. But now Dave Marsden and David Bulova represents those districts thanks to us running uber-conservatives like Craddock and Golden. So what now? We trade in Dillard and Reese, among others, who are Republicans except for a few votes--and now we got full-fledged Democrats hostile to the entire Republcian agenda. The primaries of '05 were a mistake, and the state party needs to understand that Responsible Republicanism means understanding what works where.

Comments

[Freddie]

People have been questioning Jim Dillard's Republicanism for years. He's to the left of Warner and Kaine. Sean Connaughton is generally conservative, although he is a little shaky on taxes. Sean Connaughton has a lot more in common with Bill Bolling then he does with Jim Dillard.

[Virginia Centrist]

"Its easy to clamor for Reagan conservativism and raw GOP principles in Buchanan county."

Reagan raised taxes like 6 times.

One of those tax increases was the creation of the gas tax, I believe...

[tooconservative]

Good post, I'll link to you.

[tooconservative]

send me an e-mail
chairman@vatars.org

lets have lunch somtime.

I'll keep your indentity private if you need.

[novamiddleman]

I think you can draw parallels between the democrats at the national level and the republicans at the state level

Where are the new ideas and the alternatives

There is hope for the republicans here in VA

The house of delegates transportation plan should be very interesting as an alternate viable plan for the future of Virginia

You are obviously quite ignorant. Dillard voted against RPV's and the Fairfax GOP's creed 80% of the time. He was ten times more liberal than Reese, more liberal than Warner, more liberal than Kaine. As a sitting "Republican" delegate, he stumped for, and gave $1000 to, John Kerry.

Republicans need Jim Dillard like Democrats need Zell Miller. If Dillard were truly a good Republican, that term would be meaningless.

Dillard was never nominated by Republicans to represent them (he never won a closed nomination process). He was exposed and primaried in 1980--and lost in a closed nomination process--because Republicans knew his voting record and attitude made him anything but a Republican.

Name one fundamental ideal--any ideal--that Dillard shared with RPV, the Fairfax GOP, or any respected Republican group. If you can't, that tells you all you need to know. And even if you could, I could name 3 fundamental ideals he opposed for every one you name.

[Not Larry Sabato]

Dillard was also the only Fairfax Delegate to vote to say the confederate pledge before each HoD session. I wrote a letter at the time called "Dixie Dillard".

[Chris]

Ok, so maybe Jim Dillard made some people mad, I get that. But what about Gary Reese, or Harry Parish. Last I checked, it was Parish yesterday who blocked many of Kaine's tax increases in committe, wasn't it?

[James Young]

What makes you think that Chairman Sean has controlled spending in Prince William County? The average property tax bill has increased by 50-60% during his tenure. He won't even direct the bureaucracy to write a budget that limits spending to inflation plus the rate of population growth. If that's "control," then the word has utterly no meaning.

James Young -

Since you don't read the papers, Prince William's overall (and school) population has increased by a third since Connaughton took office. Add inflation to that number and you get the average you talk about. Hmmmm ... sounds like you ain't got much to stand on as usual.

[James Young]

Coward 9:46 --- I do read the papers, and the average homeowner's tax bill under Chairman Sean has increased by 50-60% during his term of office. Nevertheless, he campaigned for LG on the dishonest claim that he "Lowered Taxes."

And as for your claim that I "ain't got much to stand on as usual," I've at least got my name, and a working knowledge and ability to use properly the English language. Both are more than you can claim.