Column: Republican victory brings about opportunity for trust

Imagine you’re an assistant football coach who finds himself taking leadership of a team in the middle of an uninspiring season. If your first thought is “Wow, I guess they think I’m pretty good,” you’d be
wrong. If your attitude was “Well, I’m here, in charge, I’d better make the best of this,” then you’d be right.

Such is the case with my party, the Republican Party, in 2009. Personally, I think Republicans in Virginia have a pretty good record, certainly superior to past Washington GOP leaders who soured voters
by failing to govern in a fiscally responsibly manner. That said, members of the national GOP were not defeated in 2008. They were fired. Democrats were tapped and — like an assistant coach who
thinks too much of his abilities — they reached too far, lurched to the left, and did it all with an arrogance and exclusivity that galvanized the GOP base and drove independents into the Republican
camp — for now anyway.

What does this mean for Republicans? First, let’s be frank. Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell and his team orchestrated a flawless a campaign. From voter identification to clearly articulated policy positions,
they ran circles around Democrat Creigh Deeds’ feckless campaign. The Virginia GOP under Pat Mullins also deserves credit, coordinating closely with the McDonnell team and down-ballot candidates to
foster unity and message discipline as opposed to organizing circular firing squads. This was a refreshing change from the self-destructive ways of the past.

But challenges remain for my party as we take advantage of the results of Nov. 3. Like that assistant coach who now has the reins of power, we must earn the trust and confidence of our constituents.
The message last Tuesday was simple. “OK gang, we’ll give you a chance to get this thing on track. But you’d better produce.” Fortunately, and for the first time since I was elected in 2001, the House
GOP has a governor who is genuinely interested in reform, making Virginia even more attractive to folks who want to grow a business, raise a family, and live knowing that their government will protect
their rights and freedoms rather than smother them with mandates and constraints they do not want and will not tolerate.

Moreover, Gov.-elect McDonnell is a product of the House of Delegates. He shares our desire for real reform in Virginia and was one of the original leaders in Speaker Bill Howell’s Reform Initiative
program. And for the first time since he was elected by his colleagues in the House, Howell will have a governor who will not fight those initiatives. Indeed, McDonnell gave voice to many of these reform
ideas in this campaign.

Meanwhile, Democrats are mocking the Tea Party movement, belittling citizen anger toward the reckless policies that have emerged from the Federal City and threaten the freedom and prosperity of this
nation. Voters have recoiled at the leftward lurch of the Obama administration and the bitter partisanship Democrats have shown in continuing to blame the previous administration, literally locking
Republicans out of negotiations on important legislation, and flaunting their power like it can never be withdrawn by those who granted it to them in the first place.

Contrary to the tax-and-spenders in Washington and Richmond, this is not the time to explode spending and accelerate our nation toward endless debt, a burden that will rob our children and their
children in the generations that lie ahead. Clearly the folks who chose Republicans last Tuesday want commonsense conservative governance, fiscal responsibly, and results.

What we must do here in Virginia is clear. We need to focus on job creation by incentivizing business growth, not bleeding it to death with higher taxes. We need to end wasteful spending on government
programs that don’t work and are of little added value so that we can reprioritize funding to transportation, public safety, and higher education, which are some of Virginia’s core needs.

We also need to untie the bureaucratic Gordian knot that makes starting businesses and accessing simple services difficult, time-consuming, and frustrating to our citizens, and turn to entrepreneurial-
based approaches to provide the services Virginians need. But above all, we must guard our liberties from government that each day devises yet another way to run our lives, spend our money, and raise
our children.

Virginians have given Republicans an opportunity to win their trust and confidence. We have the right coach; we have the right team; now we need to produce the right solutions for Virginia.

Republican L. Scott Lingamfelter represents Prince William and Fauquier counties in the Virginia House of Delegates. Elected in 2001, he serves on the House Appropriations Committee and co-chaired
the Veterans for McDonnell effort. Contact him at DelSLingamfelter@house.virginia.gov.