Del. Preston Bryant (R-Roanoke), one of the leaders of the revolt of 17 GOP moderates who voted for a tax increase, has a thoughtful column that should be read by Democrats as a challenge.
He provides some insider information about what went on at the recent private “Ideas and Issues Retreat” among Republican Assembly members. He rightly dismisses as naïve any suggestion that policy can be divorced from politics. But he also writes,
It’s predicted that the House GOP in 2005 will lay out specific government reform initiatives. You’ll likely see legislation pushed that’ll make collaborations with the private sector more easily formed, all in hopes of capitalizing on innovations, technologies, and efficiencies honed by competitive market forces that don’t exist in the government world.
If only the GOP offers reform initiatives designed to better spend taxpayer money, the Democrats will lose whatever advantage they may have gained from the fractious battle among the GOP this past session.
Most Virginians apparently believed it was time to raise and reform some taxes. But that doesn’t mean they’ve completely endorsed how the state spends money. There are plenty of ways of streamlining government, including, as was apparently discussed at the GOP retreat, public-private partnerships. If Democrats sit back and let the GOP grab all the headlines regarding government reform, they’ll no doubt be painted, and perhaps rightly so, as simply “tax and spenders.”
Wonder what Democrats are saying at – or even if they are holding – an “ideas and issues” retreat?