Time to retire Bob Goodlatte

Column by Karen Kwiatkowski

The incumbent 6^th District Congressman is ripe for retirement.  His campaign coffers are full, and he has little left to do in the Congress.   He can no longer serve as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, a position he “purchased” from John Boehnor and the House leadership for over $850,000.

Frankly, he’s done enough.  Bob Goodlatte has been an arrogant middle-of-the-road politician who never took a risk for conservatism.  He never let his conservative values stick up high enough to get noticed.  He is proud of his career in a Congress that has voted for overflowing unfunded budgets year after year.  He’s proud co-parent of the huge regulatory state, multiple undeclared and losing “wars,”  Obamacare — for which he voted to fund nearly every time it came up, unneeded subsidies in agriculture and energy, expansion of Common Core, funding for Planned Parenthood, and the list goes on and on.

The federal debt is now over $19 Trillion, and Bob voted, with the status quo, for every budget increase.  Deficit budgets every year – yep, Bob voted for them.

He did this because it made him lots of friends in Washington and pleased his lobbyist donors.  He did this because the voters in the 6^th District have tended to believe what he says when he comes back to our Valley.

But he tells us is far removed from the hard ugly truth of the Bob Goodlatte legacy.

He says, “I voted for all these budgets because they were omnibus bills, and there was nothing I could do.”  Well, Mr Goodlatte, you could have led on principle.  You could have put your foot down and said Not. This. Time.  You could have joined the growing core of conservatives in Congress advocating for one bill at a time, and breaking down the money system and revolving doors that have made the area around the I-495 beltway the richest in the country, all on the people’s dime.

Bob has some radio ads, as well as mailers and TV spots, and he is presenting himself as a conservative fighter.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  He is fighting for nothing, and he fears that too many of us have become tired of his lies – beginning with his promise to the district to abide by term limits.  This was important when he ran in 1992 because the previous 6^th District congressman had also been a lifer.

We get what we deserve.  Maybe, as Bob Goodlatte suspects, we in the valley are rubes and peasants, we trust government agencies to tell the truth, and are in awe of Mr. Congressman.

I disagree, and Harry Greigo — veteran, pilot, pro-life, principled conservative — will be getting my vote on June 14^th.

Harry Greigo doesn’t have a big campaign stash, and he works for a living.  He is not now and will never be an entrenched career politician like Bob.  But in a time when we need honest fighters, real advocates for limited government, and a Congressman who is not afraid to stand up and be counted.  Harry Greigo is exactly who we need in Washington next January.

Karen Kwiatkowski is member of the executive committee of the Republican Party of Shenandoah County, and immediate past president of the Republican Women of Shenandoah County.