How Bill Janis Lost my Support in the Virginia Senate Race (VA-12)

I have known Bill Janis for several years and I always held him in the highest regard. Most VMI grads, I have found, have a moral compass that guides them without compromise throughout their life. And when you add that to the fact that Janis and I are both Navy Vets, we have a natural alignment built on common ground.

So when Janis called me last year to meet him for breakfast, I was pretty sure what the topic would be. The Virginia Senate race. Janis lives in Walter Stosch’s district and I was excited to have someone challenge Stosch, whom I believe to be one of the worst Republican Senators Virginia has ever suffered.

And before Janis could tell me what was on his mind, I told him I would support him 100% in his effort to defeat Walter Stosch.

Subsequently, Stosch (thankfully!) decided to retire. And that changed the entire dynamics of the race. And several other contenders entered the fray. And while it was a whole new ballgame,  I planned to support Bill Janis. The others in the race were all interesting and each brought something to the table.

But I knew Bill Janis and that counted for a lot.

And I try to be as fair as possible in Republican Primary challenges. I do my best to post Press Releases from all candidates and try to help get the word out for events and things of note. My goal is for the voters to be notified of opportunities to see the candidates and make their decision.

I don’t always endorse in primaries, but when I do it is because one candidate is so good that I feel it is important to let people that read this site know that.

And Bill Janis had my support and endorsement right out of the gate, and he lost it before he reached the finish line.

Janis will tell you in a heartbeat that people often see him as aggressive and that is his nature. And I don’t have a problem with that at all. I don’t want to help send a wallflower in to represent me.

Going in, Janis had some baggage that should concern every Conservative. He has used Ray Allen as a consultant in the past. Allen promised to bankrupt the Republican Party of Virginia after he lost Eric Cantor’s primary race last year. And Janis’ wife worked for Cantor / Allen on the financial end of things. And I attended the first 7th District meeting after Fred Gruber won the Chairmanship and watches as Janis’ wife made funds available to “close out the books” and within minutes, Allen and his ilk voted to take that money from the 7th District and give it away to the National Republican Party. The way that was set up was brilliant. It at first appeared that some funds would be flowing to the 7th District, so that vote sailed through. And the check had not even been written before Ray Allen took the money.

Suffice it to say that anyone that has any dealings with Ray Allen from now on will never see my support. And I will do whatever I can to work against anyone using Allen. (And I haven’t even mentioned slating yet!)

So I asked Bill Janis about his long relationship with Allen and Janis told me he was not going to use him. Troubling, but I can live with that.

And the other baggage involving Janis was his entry into the Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney race as an Independent against a Republican. It essentially split the Republican vote and allowed a Democrat to win. And as soon as she took office, she fired all of the Republican Assistant CA’s so Janis also cost a number of people their jobs. And they were replaced by Democrats.

And some other issues have come to my attention. One of the most troubling is Janis failure to show up for a committee meeting where they were to vote on an increase in the Sales Tax. The best place to kill a tax hike is in committee.

In 2004, Mark Warner, Democrat, was governor. He wanted to increase taxes. No shock there. He had enough Republican defectors in the House – 17 or 18 – but the bill was stalled in committee. The committee voted 12-9 to table the bill, which effectively kills it. However, it was resurrected the next day and voted on again. This time it passed because four Republicans were strangely absent. It passed 10-8.

One of the four was Bill Janis. According to newspaper reports:

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

And he missed a vote that could have stopped a tax hike.

And yes, children are important. But Bill Janis let down the people of his district and the Conservatives in Virginia. And we are all financially poorer because Bill was a no show.

My family struggled when I was young and my Dad barely made enough to make ends meet. He started digging holes for telephone poles with post hole diggers and then managed to move to the “line” department at VEPCO (now Dominion Power). He spent his whole day climbing poles with spikes strapped to his legs. And his shins were raw for years. He moved to the Service Department and became a “trouble shooter” which was a far easier job. My Dad learned his work ethic as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne and was as tough as they come. And he worked every holiday he could possibly work because it paid double time and a half. He traded shifts with other guys and gladly took Christmas every year. But what I learned from him is you honor your obligations. So every Christmas we got up around 3:00 AM to open presents and went to work when it was all over. The point is, you make your obligations work.

The newspaper report continues:

“I don’t know whether they took a walk or not,” said Del. Harry J. Parrish, the committee chairman. “They weren’t here.”

Howell, asked if he had given a directive to some members, replied, “I wouldn’t say it was a directive.”

All four later showed up for the floor session, an on-again, off-again affair with most activity taking place behind closed doors, as has been the case during much of this special session on the budget stalemate.

My Dad would have managed to get up early and make breakfast and still keep his obligation. Speaker Howell’s statement tells me a lot. He wouldn’t call it a “directive” but he didn’t deny telling the 4 to miss the vote.

And Bill Janis still does not have the guts to be honest and admit he intentionally missed the vote. And this is what you get with a 10 year legislator. Someone who is willing to miss a vote because the Speaker asked them to do so. And in missing the vote, we are all paying higher taxes. So while Bill Janis makes a big deal out of never voting to raise taxes, he also failed to show up and prevent the hike because he put Party ahead of the people he represents.

And this is not a unique case. This is what happens in legislative bodies. They miss votes, amend bills to death, or take a voice vote so no one knows how they voted. It gets hard to tell the grifters from the politicians. And it leads to famous statements like “It depends on what the meaning of the word “is” is.” And “I voted for the bill before I voted against it”. And in listening to Bill Janis tonight at a debate, he failed to address the missed vote despite being asked and tried to downplay the significance.

It is hard to respect someone who would agree to avoid a vote, but it happens all the time. John Boehner punishes those who vote against him as does Speaker Howell. And to Janis, after 10 years he can somehow seem to justify this type of deception in his mind. Personally, I think he needs to go back to VMI for a refresher course in the Honor Code.

Once I read the details of this sorry “Waffle” episode, I have to say, Bill Janis broke my faith in him. Trust is something one must earn. And Janis proved to me at tonight’s debate that he has no remorse for this. And worse, you have to parse his words carefully. He said he has never voted to raise taxes. And I suppose that is true. But he failed to vote to kill higher taxes as well. HE is comfortable crafting his words carefully. And while it may be true he has not voted to raise taxes, he is surely responsible for the 2004 tax hike.

I am not comfortable with this type of deception.

And to add to this problem with Janis, he twice demanded that I not print stories that I considered newsworthy. And that is something that is guaranteed to lose my support. I feel like Bill Janis assumes he can take advantage of our friendship. I think he should ask around. My support is not for sale and is only given to those who deserve it.

Bill, you had it and lost it. And you missed your opportunity tonight at the debate to own it. And you weaseled.