by Lowman S. Henry | October 26, 2003

Wayward House Republicans abandoned their party’s principles

Legislators are fond of grouping themselves into small, internal exclusive clubs called caucuses. You have the House Republican caucus, and the House Democrat caucus. Sometimes caucuses are formed around issues, like the steel caucus. Even race and nationality comes into play and you get the Black caucus and the Italian caucus.

A new caucus was born in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives recently – the RINO caucus. RINO is short for Republicans In Name Only, for those registered as Republicans but who sell out their party’s principles on key votes.

Such a defining vote came on Governor Ed Rendell’s proposal to raise the state’s Personal Income Tax to finance various new spending programs. As expected, most House Democrats went along with the plan. So too did the 25 charter members of the House RINO caucus.

Opposition to new spending and higher taxes is part of Republican orthodoxy, especially when proposed by a governor of the other party. Why then would so many Republican legislators abandon their principles on such a key issue?

The reason appears to be fear. Nearly all the wayward RINOs represent southeastern Pennsylvania legislative districts. Rendell is the 800 pound gorilla in that region of the state and they apparently feared his impact on their re-election chances more than they feared the wrath of the voters they represent.

Worse, the RINO caucus sold its soul in vain. Senate Republicans had already made it clear they would not go along with the Governor’s taxing scheme – so the Personal Income Tax hike was dead on arrival in the upper chamber.

On the other side of the coin, Senate Republicans have been the model of fiscal integrity. Senate Majority Leader David ‘Chip’ Brightbill says the GOP’s strategy is to “keep the lights on until you see what will happen (with the economy)” rather than raising taxes and spending during an economic recession. He added “This is a sensible and rational way of handling tough times.”

Indeed it is.

In a recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Colorado Governor Bill Owens explained that his state survived the recent economic down-turn without having to raise taxes because it kept spending under control during the good times, and refrained from new spending when the economy turned sour. That is the opposite of what happened in California, where spending skyrocketed out of control – and we all know what happened there.

The Senate GOP is not hanging tough against higher taxes just out of fealty to party dogma. Governor Bob Casey’s massive $3 billion tax hike back in 1991 sent Pennsylvania into an economic tailspin from which it has yet to recover. The ghost of that debacle looms like a storm cloud over the current debate.

Back then Republican leaders went along with the governor’s tax hike, and have lived to regret it. That’s why when the Commonwealth Foundation came out with an economic report projecting the Personal Income Tax increase would destroy over 35,000 jobs it had immediate credibility. Massive job losses resulted from the 1991 vote, and Senate leaders have vowed they won’t let that happen again.
Senate President Pro Tempore Bob Jubelirer has not only successfully united his majority Republican caucus in opposition to the tax hike, he has adroitly reached out to Senate Democrats disaffected by the governor’s failure to bring them to the table when he hatched his tax hike deal with the House.

All of this means the budget battle in Harrisburg will continue. And well it should. Senate Republicans are standing up for principle and for good economic policy. That’s not gridlock, that’s doing the job we elected them to do.