The Consummate Politician/You Arrogant Boob

Is Chairman Sean on drugs?

On has to wonder, in light of the comment that Vince has posted, another one of Chairman Sean's answers from his live blogchat of a few days ago.

Do you agree or disagree with Bob FitzSimmonds, Steve Chapman, Tom Kopko, Denny Daugherty, Rick Hendrix, and all them that you are a “tax-raiser”?
why or why not?

—anonymous

I give most of the people you mention enough credit for intelligence to suggest that they do not consider me a “tax-raiser” but find it useful to say so on occasion. If they sincerely believe that, then they have not paid very close attention to my record and my fiscal policies in this County.

I am a fiscal conservative both on the tax and on the budget side. We live in a very fast-changing, fast growing community, one which had not kept up with essential government service obligations in the late 1990’s. I have used conservative fiscal policies to attack these problems. I have aggressively lowered tax rates, hoping that minimizing tax burdens will vitalize the local and regional economy, and I have tried to confine public spending to the core services that local government owes the citizens. I have had strong support for this from other Board members, the countyExecutive and his staff, and the voters. I have no indication that the recipe of tax cuts and fiscal discipline have failed in making Prince William a better place.

Conservatives are wary of debt and are strong on responsible government. I have an obligation to the citizens of this County to manage the county government in a way that provides roads, schools, police and fire protection. These things are horrifically expensive and are not getting cheaper. But just as lowering tax burdens is essential to continued prosperity, good schools, roads and public safety are essential to attracting new business and building a healthy tax base. I am always glad to engage with anyone who wants to talk about how we can make our budgets more efficient, but I am confident that the County’s tax and budget policies reflect the best kind of conservative fiscal policy.

Just as one wonders whether Goebbels believed some of his own BS, one has to wonder the same thing about Chairman Sean, who gives evidence that the pseudonymous NoVA Scout is simply Chairman Sean's way of trashing his critics without accepting responsbility for doing so.

Look at the highlighted portion, and what does it imply? "My critics are either stupid, or liars." Bold talk from a man who --- when he lost a straw poll at his home County GOP Convention --- made wild and false accusations of ballot-stuffing.

Given the arrogance of the highlighted section, though, one has to wonder whether Chairman Sean hasn't been nipping at the Kool-Aid just a little too much.

I'm not sure what's more pathetic: the arrogance of this comment, or the fact that Chairman Sean asserts, and might actually believe, that he has been "lowering tax burdens" on PWC citizens.

Mrs. Connaughton must be the one who pays the tax bill; no one who's actually seen it for the last five years could make that statement with a straight face.