Home Winners and Losers: Aug. 8, 2008
Virginia

Winners and Losers: Aug. 8, 2008

Chris Graham

Compiled by Chris Graham
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FRIENDLY ADVICE: Don’t hitch yourself to the Gilmore wagon

Word is getting back to me about Scott Sayre going out and stumping for Jim Gilmore pretty hot and heavy this summer.

Scott, some friendly advice – you don’t want to go down with the Gilmore Titanic. Spend your time with Bob Goodlatte, maybe even go out and do a speech or two with John McCain.

The historic loss that will be Gilmore’s Nov. 4 is not something that you want on your resume for ’11 (or ’09).

 

JEFF, SERIOUSLY, GET A CLUE: Wagner Freedom Day?

We’re the best state for business. And the best governed state in the nation. That overcame the 2000-2002 recession and the mess that was the Gilmore car-tax plan.

And for some reason, the new chair of the Republican Party of Virginia, Jeff Frederick, is thinking that he sees a political opportunity in the pending departure of Tim Kaine’s secretary of finance, Jody Wagner, based on the idea that the state has been managed poorly under Kaine and his predecessor, Mark Warner.

Right.

“She was complicit with Gov. Warner’s cooking the state’s financial books to justify the largest tax increase in Virginia history; part of the financial team that misplaced $137 million in taxpayer dollars for education; and has consistently provided inaccurate and politically motivated revenue estimates that have put Virginia in the budget crisis we currently face,” Frederick said in declaring today Wagner Freedom Day in Virginia.

It’s not at all coincidental, of course, that Wagner is expected to launch a campaign for the Democratic Party lieutenant-governor nomination in the coming weeks.

I’m thinking that the ‘Pubs who pushed for Frederick to get the RPV chair job were expecting more out of him than starting the occasional high-school cafeteria food fight.

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Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, TikTok, BlueSky, or subscribe to Substack or his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].

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