Freitas

Freitas Runs for Congress

December 2, 2019 by GregC

Listen to “Freitas Runs for Congress” on Spreaker.

Fresh off re-election to his state legislative office Republican Virginia Del. Nick Freitas is launching a congressional campaign in the commonwealth’s seventh district.

Freitas is a U.S. Army veteran, a Green Beret who served two tours in Iraq. He was first elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2015 and about to begin his third term there after winning re-election as a write-in candidate. In 2018, Freitas sought the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate but narrowly lost in the primary.

The seventh district is currently represented by Democrat Abigail Spanberger, who won a tight race against incumbent GOP Rep. Dave Brat in 2018. Freitas says Spanberger ran as a moderate but votes with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi nearly 90 percent of the time. He also slammed Spanberger for enthusiastically supporting the effort to impeach President Trump.

Freitas says the district is far more conservative than Spanberger and it’s time for more accurate representation. He believes there is a fundamental difference in how Republicans and Democrats approach their jobs and he’s betting the voters will be much more comfortable with his philosophy.

“Whenever I hear about Democrats solving common-sense problems, it seems like their starting point is always how do we empower the government to do more,” said Freitas.

“When I look around at how we solve problems in the private sector, what I see is efficient solutions that people like, that they have a choice to engage in the marketplace with, and they’re inherently peaceful,” he added.

Listen to the full podcast to hear what Freitas thinks of President Trump, how he will deal with a Virginia that is increasingly tilting towards the Democrats and just how far left the Virginia legislature is planning to go when Democrats take full control in January.

Del. Freitas Discusses Volatile Virginia Politics

February 11, 2019 by GregC

Listen to “Del. Freitas Discusses Volatile Virginia Politics” on Spreaker.

Virginia Republicans passed a tax relief bill in the House of Delegates Monday, the latest major development in a year already full of fierce debate in the legislature and massive scandal for the three statewide elected leaders.

Republican Del. Nick Freitas talked about all of these major issues with us. Freitas is cheering the legislation passed Monday that is aimed at making sure some Virginia families do not actually pay more in taxes as a result of the 2017 federal tax reform. That law limits the deductions for state and local taxes on federal returns, leaving some in the commonwealth with a higher net tax burden.

Republicans have been pushing the tax relief plan for weeks but until this week Gov. Ralph Northam insisted on collecting the additional revenues and using it to pay for budget priorities and redirect it to low-income Virginians.

Late last week, Northam – who is desperately clinging to his job in the wake of the blackface yearbook scandal – relented and agreed in principle to the GOP tax demands.

“The governor does not need to add one more scandal to the pile of scandals he has mounting up on his desk right now,” said Freitas, who says Republicans had no intention of allowing Northam’s redistribution plan to go forward.

“He was going to take money from the people that paid the taxes and give it to other people. We just outright rejected that,” said Freitas.

Many Virginia Democrats accused Republicans of racial insensitivity by focusing on wealthier Virginians keep more of their money rather than move it to poorer families.

Freitas is having none of that, especially this week.

“They know that none of this is based off of racism. The only people right now having a problem with racism in the Commonwealth of Virginia are the governor and the attorney general,” said Freitas, referring to Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring, who last week admitted to his own experience with blackface while in college.

Freitas says some very basic principles are at work in the tax debate.

“If you pay taxes, we want you to get a tax cut, but if you haven’t paid taxes, well then you can’t get a tax cut,” said Freitas.

“[Democrats] want to increase government spending. They want to increase wealth redistribution. They want to use the tax code to punish success, because the more money they have in order to distribute to voters, the better it is for them politically.

“As we’ve seen in every area where they’ve tried this – whether it’s globally, in the United States, or in the Commonwealth of Virginia – it never seems to work out for the people who they claim they want to help but it always seems to work out for the politicians that get to hand it out,” said Freitas.

While the tax relief for 2018 and 2019 appears on track to become law, several ambitious bills sponsored by Virginia Democrats were narrowly derailed by the Republican majority in the House of Delegates and the Virginia Senate.

Democrats pushed more than a dozen gun control bills, a plan to repeal Virginia’s right to work laws, a push for a $15 per hour minimum wage and legislation to roll back abortion restrictions and allow the termination of pregnancies even in the moments just before birth.

Northam was feeling the heat on abortion in the days leading up to the yearbook scandal.

“The way Gov. Northam described it, the child could actually be born and, in his words, the child would be kept comfortable while a conversation ensued. A conversation about what, governor? At that point, we’re talking about a child that has been born,” said Freitas.

Republicans hold a narrow 51-49 majority in the House of Delegates and a 21-19 edge in the Virginia Senate. Freitas says if Democrats win control of both chambers, Virginians will be in for a very rude surprise.

“I don’t want to throw all Democrats into this category, because I don’t think that’s appropriate, but the new left that has taken over and become the thought leader of the Democratic Party? They’re terrifying,” said Freitas. “You have not seen the extent of the crazy that they will be able to bring to Richmond if they take control of the House of Delegates and the Senate next year.”

As for the scandals, enveloping Northam and Herring, Freitas is stunned that neither of them knew better than to wear blackface in the 1980’s and that Herring would call on Northam to resign while knowing he had done the same thing.

When it comes to the sexual assault allegations against Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, Freitas says the accusations from the two accusers rings true for him, but he says that’s not reason enough to deny Fairfax his chance to defend himself.

“I find it very convincing. I find it very believable. But one of the things that I acknowledge is my beliefs in something is not sufficient evidence to convict someone. We have due process of law in this country for a reason.

“And let’s face it, this would not be the first time a group of powerful white people decided to deny due process to a black man because they found him inconvenient,” said Freitas.

Listen to the full podcast to learn why Republicans needed 80 of 100 votes in the House of Delegates to pass the tax bill and to hear more of Freitas on abortion and the scandals swirling around Richmond.

Virginia GOP vs. Dem Gov. in Tax Debate

January 7, 2019 by GregC

Listen to “Virginia GOP vs. Dem Gov. in Tax Debate” on Spreaker.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is excited because the recent federal tax reforms mean an extra $1.2 billion is headed to the commonwealth’s coffers, but Republicans say the apparent windfall is nothing more than a de facto tax increase that must be addressed.

At issue is the federal law reducing deductions taxpayers can take on state and local taxes. Critics of the law frequently pointed to high-tax states like New York, California, and New Jersey. It will also impact Virginia.

And while Northam is already drafting plans to use the extra revenue for higher teacher salaries and assist low-income families, Republicans say the responsible thing is to reform the state tax code and ease the burden on taxpayers.

GOP Delegate Nick Freitas says the $1.2 billion is not just some serendipitous discovery.

“If the governor gets what he wants, this is definitely a situation where Virginia taxpayers will be on the hook,” said Freitas. “Gov. Northam is trying to make this into a situation where he has this sudden windfall, and that’s just really not the case.”

And who exactly will be paying higher taxes because of the change regarding state tax deductions?

“Your average home, where maybe you have someone in law enforcement or maybe you have someone in academia or a teacher, when you have a dual income like that a lot of those people fit neatly in those income brackets that would experience a tax increase as a result,” said Freitas.

While Northam describes the the money he would like to give back to low-income Virginians as tax relief, Freitas says it’s nothing more than redistribution and that creates a toxic atmosphere.

“When you punish people for producing, when you punish people for their success, you’re disincentivizing success. (Late British Prime Minister) Margaret Thatcher said it best: ‘Sooner or later, you run out of other people’s money.'” said Freitas.

“No politician has any idea of the various sacrifices that people make to get a business to a point where it’s finally turning a profit. The politicians just show up with their hand out and then they convince other people that are maybe experiencing some difficult times that (if you) elect them, they’ll take from this person and give it to you.

“That just creates a society of greed and a society of envy. That’s not what we want. We want an aspirational society. We want an opportunity-driven society,” said Freitas.

The Virginia legislature returns Jan. 9. Freitas says the slim Republican majorities are planning to fix the tax code so Virginia families do not get socked by the changes in federal law.

“The Republican Caucus and our leadership have all been very adamant that we want to see a conformity bill that does not involve a tax increase of any kind,” said Freitas.

Del. Freitas would like to see sweeping tax reform in Virginia that reduces rates for everyone while also ending many tax credits and exemptions.

“Let’s not make our tax code a contest over whoever has the best lobbyist wins,” said Freitas.

Listen to the full interview to hear what Freitas sees as a much better way to help the poor than to redistribute money from wealthier people and what he sees as another major debate impacting the Virginia economy as Republicans and Democrats gear up for midterm elections in the Old Dominion in November.