Endorsement: GOP Budget Chairmen
Two Republicans who served as the chairmen of the budget committees in Virginia’s House of Delegates and State Senate publicly endorsed Governor Warner today in his bid for the U.S. Senate.
Delegate Vincent Callahan and Senator John Chichester both said their endorsements were based on Governor Warner’s record with fixing the state’s finances after inheriting a $6 billion budget shortfall.
The Washington Post interviewed Delegate Callahan this morning:
Callahan said Gilmore, Warner’s GOP opponent, misled legislators and the public about the state’s finances and the cost of his signature effort to eliminate the car tax when he was governor from 1998 to 2002.“The figures Gilmore used were so utterly erroneous and far-fetched that they were mind-boggling,” said Callahan, who helped Gilmore push his car tax proposal through the House of Delegates in the late 1990s.
...
Gilmore and legislative leaders agreed to phase out the tax over five years. To make sure the state could afford it, they agreed to suspend the plan if revenue growth fell below 5 percent. In 2001, Chichester and Senate Republicans said the economy had slowed enough that they could not enact the fourth phase of the tax cut. But Callahan sided with Gilmore to keep it on track.
Callahan, who represented McLean from 1968 until this year, said he made a mistake because the Gilmore administration gave him bad information about state finances.
“I’ve never seen figures so far off the mark,” said Callahan, who called Warner “among the best governors” he served with during his 40-year career in the legislature.
Delegate Callahan and Senator Chichester joined Governor Warner on a conference call with reporters this afternoon. Here are audio excerpts from the call:
Governor Warner:
Delegate Callahan:
Senator Chichester:
Click here to view the press release of the endorsements.
UPDATED: Vivian Page has a good summary of the conference call:
Both Chichester and Callahan expressed some dismay at the direction of the Republican Party in Virginia is taking, with Callahan commenting that his and Chichester’s support of Warner is “just the tip of an iceberg,” indicating that they believe other Republicans will follow. Chichester chimed in that in his time he has seen a lot of “Virginians for…” groups – Virginians for Holton, Virginians for Robb, etc. – come into being. “Virginia is a centrist state and doesn’t tolerate extremes in either party, ” Chichester said....
Warner said he is anxious to get the campaign underway and compare his record to Gilmore’s. More important to Warner is what will happen going forward in dealing with the issues currently facing the country. Warner said he had a bipartisan approach when he was governor and he wants to take that approach to Washington.