To the Editor:
In a recent editorial, Lu Ann McNabb scolds Sen. Ken Cuccinelli for what she labels as his inability to compromise during this year’s budget process. ["Cuccinelli Paints a Different Picture," Centre View, June 3-9.]
I am quite glad we had Sen. Cuccinelli in the Virginia Senate this year to stand firm against a tax increase. I liken the budget battle to an old-fashioned tug-of-war. On one end of the rope are the tax-increasers, always willing to take more from the citizens of Virginia to grow government, and on the other end are the anti-tax proponents who are loathe to raise taxes. Along the rope are those who fall in between the two outermost views. Sen. Cuccinelli was twice elected on a "no new tax" pledge and he was faithful to that pledge when he dug in his heels to steady the rope being pulled by the tax-increasers and Gov. Warner. Without this determination from him and others, we would likely have seen a much greater tax increase, instead of the more modest one we have.
Ms. McNabb claims that only those who are willing to compromise are somehow the “voice of reason.” This is not true since compromise does not occur in a vacuum. It occurs in the voicing of firm principles, from anti-tax to pro-tax beliefs. As the rope is tugged and pulled, compromise is born.
On May 20, The Washington Post reported in a story headlined “Surprise Jump in VA Revenue Yields Surplus” that tax receipts in April were up over 9 percent. With the new taxes not yet in effect, it is likely Virginia will find itself with an even larger budget surplus. Therefore, although this year’s budget process was particularly stubborn and the compromise longer to come about, we should remember that is was not despite of, but because of firm positions like Sen. Cuccinelli’s that the agreement forged was perhaps the wisest path to follow.
Karen Banick
Hickory Post
Centreville