The Wrath of the Brahmins
by Pat McSweeny

The ruling caste in the General Assembly put upstart Senator Ken Cuccinelli in his place. But their arrogance does not play well with the public.

So, state Senator John Chichester, R-Stafford, and other senate Brahmins have decided to teach freshman Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax County, a lesson. Cuccinelli led the successful effort to defeat the regional sales tax measure on last November’s ballot in Northern Virginia. His brand of populism is, to say the least, unpopular among the Brahmins and the business types who contribute to their campaigns.

The senate Brahmins are leaders in the political arm of Virginia’s Establishment. In a previous generation, they shared power with governors and a handful of powerful members of the House of Delegates, effectively controlling Virginia politics. Times may have changed, but the Brahmins seem oblivious to the new and more open politics.

Cuccinelli not only defeated an Establishment candidate to win the GOP nomination to fill the seat of Senator Warren Barry, who resigned last spring, but also handily defeated an Establishment candidate in the August 2002 special election. By spearheading opposition to the ballot measure to raise the sales tax in northern Virginia shortly after his election, Cuccinelli rubbed salt in the Establishment’s wounds.

This Cuccinelli fellow simply doesn’t heed the old code of conduct in Richmond. New legislators are expected to show obeisance to their elders and wait in the shadows until summoned.

Cuccinelli obviously believed that he owed it to his constituents to keep his campaign pledges. The bills he has introduced have met a summary death. Even worse, the Brahmins have openly mocked the freshman and predicted that he would accomplish nothing in the General Assembly.

The Brahmins may have miscalculated. Because the news media reported Cuccinelli’s treatment in great detail, his constituents and people throughout the Commonwealth are learning how the game is played in Richmond. They’re not apt to like it.

Cuccinelli threatens not just Republicans, but veteran Democrats as well. Once again, voters can see that the party in power in Richmond is neither Republican nor Democrat. It’s the Establishment Party led by long-term incumbents and business elites.

Virtually every time voters have been given an opportunity to register their sentiment about the power of the Establishment, they have plainly indicated their opposition. Over the last dozen years, they have soundly rejected ballot measures favored by the Establishment.

But average voters are at a distinct disadvantage.  Business elites have access to elected officials that the average voters can never hope to match. The arcane decision-making process in politics and government is a mysterious netherworld to these common folks.

What representatives like Cuccinelli have the ability to do is to make politics more transparent. The Brahmins will never let that happen without a fight. Transparency threatens their grip on power.

So strong is the Brahmins' antipathy toward Cuccinelli that legislators like Chichester aren’t able to restrain themselves in their own self interest. By publicly humiliating Cuccinelli and failing to give respectful treatment to legislation he introduced, Chichester and other Brahmins have tweaked the voters themselves.  Regardless of Chichester’s feelings about Cuccinelli, the freshman’s actions taken on behalf of his constituents deserved the same consideration every other legislator’s bills enjoys.

The extraordinary power of the Internet and the telephone has leveled the playing field more than the Establishment comprehends. The advantage that fat campaign chests used to provide can be offset by the largely unseen networking of ordinary voters fed up with a system that isn’t responsive.

Just ask the proponents of the ballot measures in 1990, 1998 and 2002.

Bacon's Rebellion, 02/03/03