The leadership among the Virginia Republicans is in many ways as bad as the leadership in the congress — they consistently overreach and abuse their power even while claiming that they’re doing no such thing. For a sign of this, look no further than House Republicans refusing to confirm fellow Republican Jim Dillard for a William & Mary Board of Visitors seat. Hugh Lessig writes:
Former Del. James Dillard angered his fellow Republicans when he openly opposed two party members in the 2005 elections.
The payback came Thursday, when House Republicans refused to endorse Dillard’s appointment to the Board of Visitors at the College of William and Mary. The vote was 51-45.
“We take retaining our majority very, very seriously,” said Del. Leo C. Wardrup Jr., R-Virginia Beach.
[…]
News of the vote spread quickly through the halls of the General Assembly, where Dillard was a veteran and respected lawmaker.
Of course, denying Dillard a seat on the William & Mary BoV does nothing to help Republicans hang onto their dwindling majority. What Republicans in the House are actually doing is threatening current Republican members of the House: if you don’t toe the line, we’ll make your life miserable even after you retire.
What many Republicans in the House don’t seem to understand is that long-lasting leadership is not viable when it is a product of force. That sort of behavior deepens divisions, fosters resentment; any party unity that results will be based around support of those ideas that are foisted upon them, rather than the development of a solid agenda in a free, open marketplace of ideas.
Yes, it’s shameful that House Republicans are so deeply fearful of losing their majority that they would punish a veteran member of their own body post-retirement. But on the other hand, as a Democrat, I take a small joy in seeing this, knowing that it’s one more nail in the coffin that holds the Republican majority in the General Assembly. After all, for a moderate Republican in the House who doesn’t want to fold and doesn’t want to be punished, there’s only one escape: a Democratic majority.
My next book:
Coercive Ignorance and the fall of the RPV.
Look for it in paperback.
So, you’ve been in Richmond for a while? I thought I saw a ray of sunshine in the eastern sky…. heh, heh.
The Tramp
I understand that the Republicans keep a list of people they will seek revenge against in a golden safe at the Obenshain Center. Even as we speak, a College Republican is adding the name “Waldo Jaquith” to that list with one of those big, fluffy feather pen-quill things . . .
I must get my name added to that list.
I agree with your post. I think this is the one of the reasons Northern Virginia voters are abandoning the GOP faster than they can blink a hateful eye. But the even bigger, more substantive reason their majority is endangered, is that they continue to dismiss and discount real issues that are affecting people’s lives up here, namely at this point, traffic. The latest House vote on the Kaine plan is NOT going to help Dave Albo, Tim Hugo, Vincent Callahan, Tom Rust, Joe May, Bob Marshall, Michelle McQuigg, Jeff Frederick, or Harry Parrish. Are they all going to lose? Probably not, but they continue to earn demotions of respect from Northern Virginians. And as much as the rest of the state’s legislators seem to love to continue sticking us in the eye up here, it will eventually come back around.
Just ask Earl. He gets it. Why don’t downstate GOP legislators? (Or some of our own NoVA GOP legislators, for that matter?).
If they actually took retaining their majority very, very seriously, they’d nominate candidates who appeal to voters in the district instead of conservative ideologues.
I think the post is a little overblown. Jim should not be the least surprised. Republicans can say — who stabbed whom first? Paybacks are hell.
So William & Mary is to be punished?
Republicans in the House have carried out a political vendetta to the detriment of a Virginia university. That’s pathetic.
Dillard is a great guy, but somehow W&M will survive. Loyalty should count for something in politics.
When a school requests a BoV appointment, and a governor makes an appointment, there must be a truly extraordinary reason not to make that appointment. I cannot see how political infighting possibly justifies such an action.
This is a classic case of a partisanship overcoming the public good.
When did William and Mary request him?
Well, maybe I’m going out on a limb here, but between this:
and this:
I’m gonna say that W&M wanted him appointed.
I mean, if that’s how they treat people that they don’t want, I’m thinking that people that they do want get hookers and iPods, at a bare minimum.
We’ll do fine without him down here. They’ll find someone else.
I’d be genuinely surprised if anyone else was seriously surprised that the Republican’s play dirty hardball. It’s part of the overall problem with politics. This sort of petty crap, doesn’t benefit anyone, and is just a distraction from any real issues and a waste of everyone’s time.
And I’d say the same if all the party affiliations were reversed.
Waldo, that was all after the fact. There’s no indication that William and Mary requested that Mark Warner appoint him, only that they made nice statements after he was booted.
Where did they get the knife, Waldo? Did they pull it out of Chris Craddock’s back?
Hoffritz.
Hookers ‘n’ iPods it is.
So he stabs his party in the back, and they’re supposed to reward him with a plum position? Please.
It’s reaching to say that W&M is being “punished.” Those are figurehead positions anyway. Is there any gubernatorial appointment that’s more bought and sold? How many non-millionaires sit on them? Wilder’s appointment of Patricia Kluge to the UVA board comes to mind.
The Virginia legislature is not the place for these petty games of “teaching lessons” and partisan vengeance. These people are elected to do the people’s business. Let’s see them get on with it.
That’s quite a sentiment, Harry, and I agree with it. It’s important to “the people’s business” that treachorous hacks who betray those who elected them not be rewarded for their perfidy.
treachorous (sic) hacks who betray those who elected them = partisan
ClosetedJames: exactly who of Mr. Dillard’s constituents were betrayed by his decision to endorse his legislative aide? If he had endorsed that loon Golden, would he have betrayed the Democrats who crossed-party lines to vote for him because he was not cut from Golden’s cloth of lunacy?
Not Ben felt the need to attack my sexual preference. My wife of 16+ years got quite a laugh out of that.
Quite adult, coward. Projection, perhaps?
And by “those who elected them,” I’m referring to Conservative Republicans who held their noses and voted for/supported him simply because he had an “R” next to his name.
ClosetedJames: why does Dillard have any more obligation to conservative Republicans who supported him than Democrats who supported him too? He was elected to serve his entire district, something he did well enough to consistently win easily.