Three months after he bolted the Republican Party to run for governor as an independent, liberal GOP State Sen. Russell Potts last week survived an attempt to strip him of his chairmanship of the Senate Education Committee. By a vote of 20 to 19, a proposal to depose Potts failed. All Democrats, along with Potts and three other Republicans (John Chichester, Frederick Quayle, and Charles R. Hawkins), voted to keep Potts in the chair. Leading the charge against the renegade Republican was conservative swashbuckler State Sen. Ken Cuccinelli of Northern Virginia.
Recalling Potts' support of Democratic Gov. (2001-2005) Mark Warner’s proposed tax increases, anti-tax crusader Norquist told me: "It's not just the tax issue, but so many other issues when Russell Potts took a walk from his party - including, of course, his run for governor against his own party’s nominee. At what point do you not punish treason?"
