ANNANDALE – The Winchester Star endorsed Ed Gillespie for Senate in an editorial this morning. The full text of the editorial is below and is available online here: http://www.winchesterstar.com/article/our_view_ed_gillespie
Let us tell you about Ed Gillespie. For the last three months or so, our focus has been on the sitting U.S. senator Mr. Gillespie is trying to unseat — particularly his six years of service as a rubber stamp for the statist policies of an increasingly unpopular president. Now, though, it’s time to speak about Ed Gillespie.
We had an opportunity to chat at length with this political and public-policy lifer on a sunny Friday in mid-September — days before the polls tightened, and nearly a month before allegations surfaced about the incumbent’s foray back into messy state politics to help keep the Virginia Senate safe for what was then a de facto Democratic majority.
For months, we had heard that Republicans, presented with a once-in-a-generation opportunity to wrest total control of Congress from the opposition, were devoid of ideas, that they were running simply as the “anti-Obama” alternative. And thus were in danger of, as the saying goes, “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.”
That September day, we learned that, in this political landscape, Mr. Gillespie stands out as a genuine exception to this perception — if it actually exists. True, over a fast-paced hour, he did address the mechanics of his campaign and the monetary challenges inherent in facing a well-heeled incumbent. But mostly, he talked about ideas, his ideas for Virginia. Ideas that are thoughtful, ideas that are practical, ideas that are conservative, ideas that deserve a chance — especially given the sitting senator’s reflexive submission to ideas and initiatives antithetical to the carefully scripted presentation of himself as a “radical centrist.”
Ed Gillespie’s program for Virginia, and for America, is skillfully titled EG2 — “Ed Gillespie = Economic Growth.” It boasts five specific planks, all worthy of discussion.
1) Replacing ObamaCare — From the Affordable Care Act’s moment of conception, Mr. Gillespie told us, he believed the measure would, if approved, “kill jobs and raise costs.” Such a scenario, sadly, has come to pass; ObamaCare is, he says, “the single biggest drag on our economy.”
“Premiums are sky-rocketing,” Mr. Gillespie adds. “People are squeezed between lost hours, rising costs, and stagnant pay.”
His solution: Replace ObamaCare with “a real reform plan that puts patients first and provides more affordable options,” a system that “lets us keep the insurance we like and the doctors we trust, and allows businesses to grow and hire.”
2) Tax and regulatory relief — The current tax and regulatory burden, especially the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, is “a boot on the throat of our economic recovery,” Mr. Gillespie says.
His solution: Reduce the corporate tax rate, simplify the tax code (thus easing the strain on families while allowing them to keep more of their hard-earned money), subject all federal regulations to a cost-benefit analysis, and repeal all “outdated and unnecessarily excessive” rules and regs.
3) Unleashing American energy — In no arena are the differences between Mr. Gillespie and Mark Warner more clear-cut. The senator has supported cap-and-trade initiatives and a carbon tax; Mr. Gillespie does not. The challenger looks at proposed EPA rule changes relative to coal production and sees nothing less than the closure of “one-third to one-half” of Virginia’s coal-fired plants and a concomitant loss of livelihood to the economically embattled residents of the state’s hard-pressed Southwest. What’s more, all Virginia families and firms would see their bottom lines diminished by ever-increasing energy costs.
His solution(s): Embrace traditional and alternative sources of energy production — coal and natural gas as well as solar and wind — so much the better to make America energy independent. Mr. Gillespie heartily supports the Keystone pipeline and advocates an end to the moratorium on off-shore drilling.
4) Education reform — Top-down mandates dispensed from Washington? Mr. Gillespie’s against them. And throwing more money at education, he says, is not the answer either.
His solution: Innovation, competition, and choice. Mr. Gillespie says he’ll work “tirelessly” to empower parents in the pursuit of their children’s best educational interests.
5) Spending and the budget — Simply stated, Mr. Gillespie would cut the former and seek to balance the latter. “Reckless” spending and a debt spiraling past $18 trillion are unsustainable.
His solution(s): Push for a Balanced Budget Amendment; rein in wasteful spending. “It’s time we stop spending money we just don’t have,” he says.
Mr. Gillespie presents his five-point plan in simple, straightforward fashion and terminology. It’s only when he speaks to the plight of everyday Virginians he’s spoken with on the campaign trial that his passion for the race rises.
“As I’ve campaigned,” he says, “I see economic anxiety, even pain.” As such, his stance on legislation, particularly that relating to the economy, will be governed by a “simple test: Will this bill ease the squeeze on hard-working Virginians or will it make it harder for them to find the jobs they need?” And if he fails that “test,” he expects — and encourages — Virginians to “hold me accountable.”
“I want the same blessings of liberty for everyone that I’ve had,” says Mr. Gillespie, grandson of an immigrant janitor. “These blessings were born here in Virginia, and I’ll fight for them every damn day.”
Ed Gillespie deserves the opportunity to make that fight. He deserves your support on Election Day, Nov. 4.
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