Virginia Governor Urges Bush to Promote Conservative Agenda

Before a crowd of conservatives in the nation’s capitol, the chief executive of what is now one of the most Republican states in the nation urged President-elect Bush to put tax cuts at the top of his agenda, and recommended sound economic policies as a way to garner more black votes for the GOP.

Contrary to media suggestions that Bush should govern from the "bipartisan middle" because of his narrow win, Gilmore and other speakers urged him to be bold and give Americans the tax and economic policies that voters, in Election Day exit polls, said they wanted.

The Virginian was in town to accept the Free Congress Foundation’s Conservative Governance Award at a dinner in his honor Monday night. A celebratory mood prevailed among the attendees, having received the news of two court decisions that day which went against Al Gore’s effort to steal the election.

"I think it is the end of the line for the presidential stalker," declared National Review Washington Editor Kate O’Beirne.

The close election has told us a lot about how the Clinton-Gore administration has divided us, Gilmore said.

That famous red and blue map is "most revealing" in that it shows how this administration for the past eight years has bitterly divided the country on race and other matters, according to the governor. He said the Clinton-Gore legacy has left us "more divided than at any time since the War Between the States, the Civil War."

Those divisions "have their roots in the White House liberal policies of the past eight years," when "Clinton and Gore had their chance to appeal to the best in Americans, but instead chose to divide our people and appeal to their worst."

As an example, he cited Vice President Gore’s campaign speech at a black church where he portrayed the election as a "choice between good and evil."

Gilmore said he was confident that Bush would follow through on his tax-cutting agenda.

He warned that conservatives must understand that liberals regard holding office as an entitlement. "They are absolute and resolute," he said, adding that bipartisanship to them means "agreeing on their terms."

O’Beirne sounded a similar theme, expressing hope that this new Bush administration would succeed where the administration of the elder George Bush had failed, a reference to the broken "No new taxes" promise and what the conservative journalist said was an openly expressed attitude by the Bush people in 1989 that their officials were "people with mortgages" whereas the preceding Reagan administration officials were "people with an agenda."

George W. Bush should "reach out" to secure bipartisan support for his tax and education agenda, said O’Beirne, with the understanding that "it is HIS agenda."

Gilmore said tax cuts were needed to "unleash the potential of the entrepreneurial spirit."

He noted that while Bush was carrying 9 percent of the black vote nationwide, he got 14 percent of that voting group in Virginia. "And when I ran [on his signature plan] to abolish the car tax in Virginia in 1997, I won 20 percent of the African-American vote" because they’re "working men and women" and the "tax cut mattered in their lives."

Gilmore was only the seventh public official to receive the coveted Conservative Governance Award since Free Congress established it 15 years ago. The other six were former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, House Majority Leader Dick Armey, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, and former Indianapolis Mayor Steve Goldsmith.