Bill “Waffle Willie” Janis Birthday Breakfast has Cost Taxpayers $4,409,686,125.00 ($4.5 Billion) AND COUNTING!!!

You know you have made it in Virginia when you earn a nickname at Virginia Right! And former State Delegate Bill Janis has finally earned his.

“Waffle Willie” Janis.

A politician who “waffles” is usually one who likes to have things both ways. And that is part of the reason for the nickname. But the pièce de résistance that solidifies the nickname goes back to 2004.

Sit back, relax, and I will lay a story on you that will curl your toes and explain why your bank account is now lighter than it should be to the tune of $4.5 Billion statewide thanks to Waffle Willie Janis.

It was a dark and stormy night. (I always wanted to start a story with that line.)

Actually, Tuesday April 6, 2004 was a beautiful Spring day in Richmond, Virginia. The high that day was a comfortable 64 degrees after a chilly 32 degree start. The birds were singing and sun was shining. Virginians went to work or school that morning confident that the special session that then Governor Mark Warner had called in order to rape and pillage Virginian’s pocketbooks was safely in the hands of the Fiscal Conservatives that they had elected to protect them from the massive government spending Mark Warner demanded.

And on that morning, Delegate Bill Janis walked into his committee meeting and did what the people sent him there to do. He voted to kill (table, actually) Warner’s massive tax hike. The Republicans held their ground and the vote was 12 to kill the tax hike and 9 to send it to the floor for a vote.

Now it should be noted that the tax hiking RINO’s (that is the liberal Republicans who only act Conservative at election time) were salivating in the House of Delegates to raise taxes. House Speaker Bill Howell (I need to come up with a nickname for Howell. but so far I can’t print any that come to mind), as usual, was leading the tax hike charge for Mark Warner with the Republican majority. Howell had lined up 17 or 18 Republican defectors who wanted to raise taxes and planned to vote with all of the Democrats. But first they had to get the dead bill out of committee stacked with fiscal Conservatives who couldn’t be seen voting to raise taxes.

So when the bill was tabled in committee, Speaker Howell was howling mad. He wanted a tax hike and by gummy, he was going to get it. So he went looking for some committee members who would play ball and betray the voters who put them in office. Howell reckoned he needed about four of the 12 that voted against the bill to stay home. So he talked to Bill Janis, John O’Bannon, Mark Cole and Alan Loudermilk.

As Mark Cole put it:

“Leadership (Howell) had promised to get the bill to the floor, and I certainly couldn’t support it. So I was asked not to attend.”

John O’Bannon said he was at another meeting. “That’s just how it worked out,” he said.

Now here is where Bill Janis became Waffle Willie:

A third member, Del. William R. Janis, R-Goochland, said Wednesday was his son’s ninth birthday and he stayed home to make him waffles for breakfast.

Loudermilk didn’t comment.

Reporters asked Howell if his request for these four to stay away was a directive. Howell confirmed he made the request when he responded, “I wouldn’t say it was a directive.”

So the 4 Decepticons, no doubt anxious to curry favor and avoid the wrath of Howell stayed home and failed to do what they had been sent in there to do.

And on Wednesday April 7, 2004 the previously dead tax hike was resurrected and approved 10 – 9 thanks to the absence of Waffle Willie and his Decepticon 3 pals. The bill moved to the full House and, as expected, passed easily. The 4 Decepticons were allowed to vote “Nay” on the final bill because their votes were not needed for passage. And so they could go around telling voters that they have never voted to raise taxes. And that is a total deception.

And my “shipmate” Waffle Willie should be familiar with the phrase “dereliction of duty”.

1. deliberate, conscious, or wilful neglect (esp in the phrase dereliction of duty)

2. the act of abandoning or deserting or the state of being abandoned or deserted

However, being the clever lawyer that he is, I have no doubt Waffle Willie can deny (in his own mind anyway) that he was derelict in his duty by defining his “duty” as being to Party Leadership, and not the voters. That is pretty much how he gets by with claiming he never voted to raise taxes. But the question people need to ask him is have you ever failed to show up for a vote against tax hikes? And while I don’t doubt he stayed home and made waffles, nor do I doubt his dedication to his children, but I do doubt his ability to represent the interests of the voters when they are at odds with the liberal Speaker Howell. The default decision when there is a conflict is to side with the voters. And you have to ask yourself, couldn’t Waffle Willie have set his alarm an hour earlier, made the waffles for his kid and represent the voters he was elected to serve?

But this tells me a lot about the character of Waffle Willie. And this type of deception and party games is why we are in the mess we are in.

This wasn’t the first time this has happened in Richmond and it won’t be the last.

So how much did Waffle Willie’s “no show” cost Virginia?

Well, here are the tax increases that were in the bill:

Increased:

* Sales tax by one-half cent, from 4.5 cents on the dollar to a nickel.

* Closes several corporate income tax loopholes.

* Tax on recording real estate deeds increases from 15 cents to 25 cents per $100.

* Cigarette tax jumps from 2.5 cents, the nation’s lowest, to 25 cents this year and 30 cents next year.

* Eliminates the sales tax exemptions for certain public service corporations.

So the bill raised the sales tax on the state from 3.5% to 4%. (The overall rate went from 4.5% to 5% but we can only blame Waffle Willie for the state portion.)

It increased taxes on businesses by closing “loopholes” which is the pro tax term for deductions. It increased the tax on buying a home, smoking and increased taxes on public service corporations. So, in essence, the suffering from this tax hike was widespread.

But let’s just look at the sales tax hike that Waffle Wille cost us all by staying home and missing the committee meeting:

The increase in Virginia Sales Tax was .5% from 3.5% to 4%. That is a 12.5% increase. So 12.5% of the sales tax revenue since 2004 is thanks to Waffle Willie. So taking only the state portion of the sales tax revenue without adding in the local tax revenue, let’s look at the numbers between 2005 and 2014 – a decade of tax. (Note the increase actually took place on September 1, 2004.)

Year    Va Sales Tax Collected

2005  $3,396,084,000
2006  $3,289,136,000
2007  $3,566,567,000
2008  $3,600,663,000
2009  $3,403,508,000
2010  $3,573,246,000
2011  $3,489,708,000
2012  $3,624,573,000
2013  $3,740,978,000
2014  $3,593,026,000

Total State Sales Tax Revenue 2005 – 2014:   –  $35,277,489,000.00

Waffle Willie’s “no show” portion (12.5%):   –  $4,409,686,125.00

So when we consider how much Bill “Waffle Willie” Janis has taken from Virginia families in sales tax hikes alone you can say that Waffle Willie’s compliance in staying away from the committee meeting because it was his son’s birthday has cost Virginian’s almost $4.5 Billion over the last 10 years. I don’t know about you, and I love my kids as much as life itself, but I would have a problem if failing to do my duty cost my fellow Virginian’s $4.5 Billion that they could have spent on their own kids.

I consider that down right selfish.

And I also consider complying with marching orders – directive or not – that causes you to go against your campaign promises to not raise taxes and betrays the trust in the voters to be completely unacceptable.

So the next time Waffle Willie claims he has never voted to raise taxes, remind him he owes the voters $4.5 Billion because he stayed home to make waffles.

You want fries with that?

Note – Source for the waffle story are here.

Financial data on Sales Tax Revenue are here.