With a brief, late-in-the-day statement, former Virginia Sen. George Allen managed to change the tenor, if not necessarily the direction, of the state’s ABC privatization debate from how much money the state will continue to extract from customers after exiting the business to “who cares?” He did so in typical Allen fashion:
As our elected legislators work through the ABC privatization initiative, there is no good reason or need to insert a tax hike in this plan. The taxpayers of the Commonwealth know that the state budget is sufficiently big. Worrying about how much revenue the government can keep from liquor sales is a distraction from the larger cost savings of privatization.”
It’s the sort of principled argument that free market privatization backers have been waiting for someone to make. But in Allen, they also get more than just a spokesman, they get political clout as well.
Virginia Republicans still have a soft spot for Allen. He led them out of the political wilderness in 1993, by capturing the governorship and bringing a red-meat brand of conservatism to Richmond. He went on to knock off the seemingly invincible Sen. Chuck Robb in 2000 and perhaps most importantly, they still resent what many feel was a vicious, vindictive, pounding he took in the 2006 senatorial contest with Jim Webb. For these folks, George Allen is still “the one,” and they can’t wait for him to mount a comeback.
What’s this got to do with the ABC debate? Plenty – if you are a Republican member of the General Assembly.
Many of them have groused that Gov. McDonnell’s plan short-changes the state, would lead to higher consumption or hurt mom and pop retailers. The most recent version of McDonnell’s plan addresses the latter concern to some extent. But on the big item of money, Allen’s statement puts those legislators in a bind.
Can they continue to say they won’t vote for the idea if it shortchanges the state ‘even one dime’ as Del. John Cosgrove announced, or has Allen – the grassroots idol — made such concerns look petty?
The McDonnell administration certainly hopes it puts those criticisms to rest…and perhaps give him the votes he needs to carry his plan at least through the Republican-controlled House.
