Democrat switches Parties – Updated!
A few days ago, I wrote how Parker Griffith and Glenn Nye were the only two Democratic Congressional cosponsors to the bill to end the Death Tax.
Not anymore.
Politico reports that Rep. Griffith, a freshman Dem, is announcing his switch to the GOP today.
Can Nye be far behind?
UPDATE: WAPO lists “voting with their Party” averages:
Griffith 84.5 %
Nye 83.6 %
Nye votes with the Democrats less than the Democrat who switched to the Republicans today!
h/t Mike Gruss http://twitter.com/mikegruss
MORE UPDATES:
It keeps getting better! The chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Chris Van Hollen, is whining about all the money he gave Rep. Griffith and he wants it all back!
“Mr. Griffith, failing to honor our commitment to him, has a duty and responsibility to return to Democratic Members and the DCCC the financial resources that were invested in him.”
Sounds like you need a bailout, Chris.
Category: Government
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Brian, your attempt to blame our road depreciation on the need for planning is as absurd as it is incorrect. Fact is, thanks to those who subscribe to your philosophy of no new taxes, the majority in the House has for the last decade dismantled a system that used to work quite well. Now, we have so much decay and deterioration that we will need to spend billions just to maintain and repair, much less start new projects. So Brian, how much more deterioration is enough for you?
Hey, Mike, don’t blame me for your ineffectiveness in convincing voters you’re right.
Thanks Brian, another quip. Why can’t we get columnist with some depth and insight? Too boring? Just like governing. You are best with your one liners during elections. Leave governance, that is, the tough stuff, to others. So Brian, how low do taxes need to be to gain your approval? Never mind, I know the answer.
Mike, dodging the key issue? Why is it that voters repeatedly disagree with you on this single issue?
Of course, you miss my point. I know you are most comfortable advising candidates to run pledging not to raise taxes, and you have had some success doing so. Along with that pledge is the position that cutting “all waste, abuse, and low priority programs” will be sufficient to fund essential government services. Of course, as Gilmore found out, and as citizens did as well, that is often baloney, and leaves a trial of accusation, unfilled commitments, and anger among the voters. Sure McDonnell has said he can do it; we’ll soon see. MJB sends!
Mike, I usually advise candidates to pay attention to polling. If your proposals for taxes have repeatedly polled poorly, don’t blame me for noticing. Blame yourself for poorly convincing people you’re right.
Yes of course, the safe answer. I’m sure Gilmore said the same thing when he perverted the car tax issue and make it “No Car Tax”, an issue that I am sure polled well but which eventually bankrupted the Commonwealth and led the republicans into the wilderness for awhile. Regretfully, voters often don’t look beyond the siren song of no taxes, but they learn quickly when it hurts them personally.
Mike, I visit Pennsylvania frequently, with one of the highest gas taxes in the nation. guess what they have? Traffic congestion. TONS of it.
Or how about chugging out to good ole California, with the highest gas tax in the country. Or New York, with so much traffic congestion that people would rather walk instead of pay their 63 cents a gallon tax.
If raising gas taxes solved congestion, it’s not easy to find an example of where it actually has.
You want change, Mike. The onus is on you to convince people you’re right. You’re still failing.
Ah yes, raise the spectre of the big bad wolf. But the only reason we would ever need such high gas taxes is if we fail to keep up with maintenance and repair and then face a disaster. You forget, Brian, that just fifteen years ago, we had a system that functioned quite well; it was the failure to keep up that caused this extreme situation.
Actually, Mike, 7 years ago, we were in a transportation crisis, according to you.
I realize that the Democrat Machine and allied media have successfully revised history in regard to Gov. Jim Gilmore. True enough, the RINO filled RPV had little to no interest in defending the public assault on Gilmore’s record. A lot of those RINOs have since stepped down or were defeated. Many of them endorsed Creigh Deeds over McDonnell after no longer being in office.
Once again, I have to take issue with Mike’s assertion that Gilmore “Bankrupted” the Commonwealth. Like now, Virginia’s economy was then hugely affected by a NATIONAL economy. Will political opportunist be blaming future ills on Tim Kaine because he made too many cuts and prevented Virginia from being “stimulated” to recovery?
Like Blaming Gilmore’s Car Tax relief for what was a national issue affected by 9/11, the war, and perhaps natural economic cycles, it would be just as unfair as blaming Kaine for the current mess. I give the Republicans credit. Sure they attack Kaine, but so far they’re not coming up with some line of B.S. that trashes Kaine’s name, drags him through the public media as a scape goat while ignoring that there was just a credit crunch and real estate bubble.
Was the car tax thing just replaced by taxes and fees elsewhere? Of course it was. State reimbursements had to be made up elsewhere. The creative accounting switches timed badly with events that affected all of America and not just Virginia. Did that timing negatively affect our state economy? Probably. ALL states had their economies negatively impacted by outside events then and now. NOT JUST VIRGINA! The idea that Gilmore was the cause of Virginia’s economic woes is both wrong and ridiculous. Virginia was never “Bankrupt” either.
One of the problems I have with this kind of continued propaganda is that being false, it calls into question everything else you have to offer in the same conversation. Therefore, some legitimate points brought forward may simply be dismissed as more of the same.
Well Britt, you have taken an indefensible position. Republican leaders advised Gilmore that to create a tax break without funding it was extreme, yet he proceeded anyway. Then, as growth slowed, and it became evident that he had created a billion dollar unfunded mandate for the Legislature that would soon grow to $2 B, they had to cap the amount paid to the localities. Lesson is, an initiative without a offset is a liar and a thief. If Warner and the Legislator had not acted, the Commonwealth would have lost its coveted triple A bond rating and the cost of that over the decades would have been a burden for us and our children.
Totally defensible and I’ll stick to it. Tenaciously so. Yes, he got a lot of advice, much from RINOs that thought they were protecting their special interests.
Keep in mind, that at that point, we had a huge surplus. Many argued that some tax dollars should be returned to the taxpayer in some fashion. Gilmore took the Car Tax relief as his particular path.
There was a huge amount of screaming from localities and from state interests when reimbursements became an issue. So, yea…..you had a lot of tax hungry Republicans and Democrats howling against it. So much for your Republican advice smoke screen.
Is a tax relief initiative without an offset a drain on state funds? Of course!! Part of the whole idea since Gilmore had us flush with a large surplus of funds. Who anticipated 9/11? Or a war or the effect it all had on the economy. Blaming Gilmore for not foretelling those events is just silliness. Additionally, that drain on funds was negligible when compared to the damage caused by world events on not just Virginia, but all states of the union. Those other states not even having car tax relief but still struggling just as Virginia was.
As for your claim that Warner was some kind of savior, that is also just as wrong. I give him credit for budget restraint in a time of need…..and a mandate to balance the budget. However, if you’re talking about his historic tax increase on Virginians, Virginia’s economy recovered before its passage and we again had large budget surpluses (that Summer)before his taxes even went into effect(that Fall).
What is indefensible is you stating:
“I’m sure Gilmore said the same thing when he perverted the car tax issue and make it “No Car Tax”, an issue that I am sure polled well but which eventually bankrupted the Commonwealth…..” – Mike Barrett (emphasis is mine)
At no point was Virginia “bankrupt” and as you state later, we still had a darn good bond rating. That is just patently false thus indefensible.
You have some good things to share, Mike, but I plan to call people out on this unfair scape goating and rewriting of history every chance I get. A timeline of when Warners taxes went into effect and how we had surpluses before those taxes even went into effect can be found in the Virginia Pilot’s archives. I’d be happy to share some of those links should any Republican be interested in actually defending their own guy. Until, then, me, a Libertarian will just have to do their work for them.
I am just going to note that California does not have the highest fuel taxes in the nation as Brian claimed. I believe that honor goes to Illinois… which also has a substantial number of toll roads to boot. California falls into the higher end of the mid range. I am also going to note that Pennsylvania might achieve top honors if toll road networks are included. Pennsylvania has both a very high fuel tax and a very large toll road network with extremely high tolls. From a trucking perspective only, Oregon is far away the leader. For what Oregon charges truckers, there should be valet parking in all the rest areas and all the truck stops provided by the tax revenues.
For an example of where higher fuel taxes, efficiently employed, provides a better transportation system I am going to site Ohio. Their fuel taxes are about the same as California’s but they have a marvelous road network. The only stain on Ohio’s record is the Ohio Turnpike where travelers are forced to pay both the fuel tax and the toll.
Ohio serves as an example where increased fuel taxes can solve transportation problems when the revenue is effectively managed. Please be aware that I am a truck driver and I have been saying this for years. Unlike other truck drivers, I did not hold it against Ohio for having a split speed limit for trucks that limited trucks to 55 MPH. However this hated split speed limit has been removed, at least on the interstates, and I think you will now start to see truckers’ opinion polls on where we get most bang for the buck showing Ohio rising to near the top.
I am going to add that traditional trucker polls include the opinions of all truckers. Company drivers who do not pay their own fuel taxes only judge on the conditions of the roads and not the amount of fuel taxes they paid to get the conditions.
Britt, never mind. I guess you can explain away just about anything if you are not restricted by what actually occured. MJB sends!