What is Phil Cox thinking?
By Brian Schoeneman | Thursday, October 14th, 2010 | Catch-AllThe Washington Post is reporting this morning that Phil Cox, political advisor to Governor McDonnell and chairman of the Governor’s Political Action Committee, threatened active retaliation against Republicans who don’t toe the line on the ABC privatization plan next year. He also called the Republican caucus leaders “spineless,” and told Del. Tim Hugo, chairman of the House GOP caucus, that McDonnell was popular and could use that popularity to raise millions for candidates to run against Republicans who didn’t vote for the plan.
Politics is a contact sport. Everyone who is involved knows this, and there are plenty of things said behind closed doors that would shock people if they were put on the front page of the Washington Post. But there are some things you just don’t ever say, and threatening to run opposition candidates against members of your own party because they don’t like your legislative proposal is one of those things.
I’ve supported ABC privatization and have defended it against critics who called it a tax increase. But even I don’t believe that the plan is perfect, and I don’t have a problem with the House GOP caucus being realistic and recognizing that the plan needs to be as close to perfect as possible if we are going to peel away the necessary Democrats in the State Senate for the proposal to ever see the light of day. If we can’t do that, Dick Saslaw will just chuck the legislation out, and the Governor will have a major policy defeat on his hands. And while the Governor is popular, he also doesn’t have to run for re-election next year and Hugo and the rest of the GOP caucus does. It’s in their best interests to work on a plan that raises the funds for transportation that has always been at the heart of the proposal.
As Del. Dave Albo noted in the WaPo article, this is a policy fight, not a political fight. Cox has no business being involved in this side of things, and he certainly has no business threatening our House members for doing their jobs. I’m proud to see Tim Hugo fight this out and not bow to ham-handed arm twisting.
Phil Cox and the rest of the Governor’s staff needed to stop the myopic focus on the ABC plan, as if it’s going to be McDonnell’s legacy. It won’t. Even if it passes, no one is going to care in another few years. His legacy will be turning our economy around and creating jobs while ensuring taxes stayed low. And I hope his legacy will include doing something to fix the transportation problems we face across the Commonwealth. The ABC plan is part of that larger issue, not an issue itself. Privatizing ABC was never going to be a standalone proposal – it was always discussed as a way of raising revenue without raising taxes.
It’s time for everyone involved to take a step back, take a deep breath, and focus on the big picture. Economy. Jobs. Transportation.
And stop threatening your own team. That’s something Democrats do. Not us.
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A veteran political professional, a long-time Republican party activist and new attorney, Brian W. Schoeneman has been offering his opinions at Bearing Drift since 2010. He serves on the Board of Virginia Line Media, LLC, which operates Bearing Drift and spends his days representing the U.S. Merchant Marine in Washington, D.C. He hails from Fairfax County, Virginia, where he lives with his wife and son.
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16 Responses to "What is Phil Cox thinking?"
Brian –
That’s the problem — Phil Cox *is* thinking. If the McDonnell proposal is the strongest proposal out there (barring outright privatization) and the House GOP is squeamish about it, then we have bigger problems than we think.
The House GOP Caucus can squirm over it… but we do this to ourselves every time. Virginia Republicans are always more comfortable as an opposition party.
Watching us with a majority (or at least the House, the Governor’s Mansion, and a chance to put the Democratic-controlled Virginia Senate on notice) is like watching a chimpanzee a remote control… you’d think we’d be playing offense in this environment, would we not?
Phil Cox is right. And we ought to let Tim Hugo and Bill Howell know that we’ll stand behind them if they do the right thing and spoil for a fight on smaller government.
I mean, this is ABC privatization, folks. If we can’t do this, how the hell are we going to tackle the real problems of big government?!
Shaun, you know I’m 100% behind reducing the size of government at both the state and federal level. But that’s not what the ABC privatization fight is all about. The whole reason this concept was even suggested was as a way to make money to fund transportation without having to raise taxes on working families.
If the privatization plan doesn’t do that, we need to rethink it – we can’t afford to throw away a good revenue raiser unless we can offset the losses somewhere else.
Phil isn’t thinking – if he were, he wouldn’t be using a sledgehammer to solve a problem that is best solved by reaching out individually, in private, to all of the members of the House caucus and finding out what their beefs are.
It’s always easier when you don’t have the responsibility for governing and can just sit back and throw tomatoes at the guys who do. But at the same time, I can’t fault the Delegates in the House for wanting to make sure that the plan they put forward 1) is the best it can be and 2) has a legitimate chance of succeeding. And that requires playing balls with enough Democrats in the Senate to get the thing passed.
Playing a good offense doesn’t always mean rolling over the other guys. It takes some finesse. This isn’t finesse. This is Chicago-style politics and it won’t work in Richmond.
Right on, Brian. One wonders what Phil Cox would say to a Tea Party candidate who would threaten to primary a GOP incumbant over voting for a tax increase?
And I love ABC privatization too. It’s the right thing to do. But this isn’t the way to get it done. Work through the leg process and build the best privatization mousetrap possible.
Hmmm…this is sort of starting to remind me of the Gilmore administration. McDonnell would be smart to cut Cox off at the knees. A governor does NOT want to alienate his own party leadership in the General Assembly if he wants to have a succesful term.
“My way or the highway” is generally not a good approach to the legislature.
I’m not saying there’s a better way to go about things (i.e. you don’t threaten Hugo or Howell), but ABC privatization is simple… no brainer.
Phil’s right to express some exasperation with the House caucus, as I’m sure most House conservatives are equally exasperated.
It’d be better to address a series of hard-hitting reforms and have the Virginia Senate be the “Chamber Where Good Ideas Go To Die” for a change.
Hey Phil.. Knock it off big guy. Pick on people your own size.
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Lets just hope that Cox means what he says, it would be fantastic if the Governor helps topple some of the more unprincipled House Republicans.
Right, because taking a chance at handing our control of the House of Delegates to the Democrats is a great idea.
Cox believes that by passing this stupid proposal McDonnell can claim that he “solved” the transportation problem and put a feather in his cap for his next election (whatever that might be).
What Cox seems to not comprehend is that voters are tired of officials that claim a “solution” without a REAL fix (ie. Obamacare, stimulus, etc…). He seems to want to take down the entire house for this ill conceived and unwanted “plan”.
Cox, the Gov. and his advisors should take a hint from house members; Instead of trying to shove this stupid plan down their throats, they should look for a “real” solution to transportation.
Very few care about this plan. Those who do understand it is bad for the commonwealth, businesses and for consumers (spelled VOTERS). Those in the house “get it”, unfortunately the Governor has yet to see the light.
Maybe the Governor should listen to the majority of those in the body from whence he came, or better yet, look for a new political guru and better advisors.
That would be leadership….
http://www.bottomsupcomic.com/comics/2009-06-29-Under-The-Bus.jpg
Guys like you stoke the fires Mr. Cox..
I’m sure he was taken to the proverbial woodshed today by the Gov.
Perhaps Phil Cox is the one with too much skin in the ABC privatization issue.
Given Gov. McDonnell’s mastery of Virginia’s money issues the ABC is very optional. There is reason to think that the ABC issue is really no more than a foot ball to toss around whose purpose is to keep his team out of trouble.
If the ABC was really important it would already have been settled.
Perhaps Phil Cox is forgetting his place on McDonnell’s team. Also, injuring other team members over a practice game is a very bad idea that does not advance Phil Cox’s career. I think it all a very small matter that is best forgotten by all.
“My way or the highway” is generally not a good approach to the legislature.
Why not? You all let these Koch heads take over the party and now you act surprised by their tactics.
My, this has gone from merely silly to outright wreckless. Cox obviously has far too much vested interest in this (i.e., retail and wholesalers money) to see clearly. (Perhaps he’s been sampling the wares a bit too much.) This has been a half-backed idea since the campaign and the premise of using the “money” to fix transportation is so ludicrous I can’t even believe it merits discussion. This is obviously not going to happen any time soon. The best McDonnell can say he is opened the door to the idea. That’s at least a good start. Next time, I hope the idea is based on merit and conservative, free market principals.
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