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No matter where you work, one must understand that it is important to know what your primary responsibility is. Take care of that duty before anything else, and do it well.

Last January, many good people were very upset with the actions and activities of our top three statewide elected officials. Gov. Northam had endorsed late term abortion and infanticide. Many believed he should resign. Meanwhile, separately, two ladies accused Lt. Gov. Fairfax of sexual misconduct or rape. Again, many wanted him to be arrested. And, finally, others thought that Attorney General Herring should be forced to resign after he called for the Governor to resign because of the blackface issue; knowing that he had done the very same thing and had to fess up only days later.

Many folks believed that the General Assembly should have acted immediately to get Virginia out from under the cloud of these three’s questionable actions and judgment.

We in the General Assembly understood their desires, but we knew that our most important job was to stay focused on dealing with legislation and drafting a budget. If we allowed ourselves to be distracted from fulfilling that responsibility, we would be breaking our commitment to the citizens that had chosen us to represent them in Richmond.

I am proud that we crafted a state budget that was balanced and included a commitment to return almost a billion dollars to the taxpayers of Virginia. The first part of that commitment was a tax rebate. Those checks are coming out now and in the next few weeks. The second part will go into effect next year when you fill out your tax forms. When you do, you will find that your personal deduction will be double what it was this year and in years passed.

Legislatively, we passed legislation that helped the private sector as they commit to Virginia to create new jobs. This was accomplished without burdening the taxpayers. Additionally, we set aside funding to gear up our colleges to better educate our young people for high demand jobs. The Tech Talent Pipeline legislation focused on computer science degrees at the bachelor and master’s levels. At the same time, we invested more on faster workforce skills training. As well, we made the greatest investment in broadband service to the rural parts of the state that have fallen behind on this needed service.

Washington is Different Congress has taken a far different position. They have spent most of the last two and a half years trying to figure out how to nullify the results of the 2016 elections. This last week, they went bananas! After promising that they had proof of President Trump’s collusion with the Russians, their case against him fell apart after the Mueller report and hearings proved absolutely nothing. Therefore, without any facts, they decided they would accuse him of picking on Joe Biden.

While we do not know where this will lead, we do know that it is starting to appear that they learned nothing about making public charges before they have the facts. We do know, however, that when Mr. Biden was vice president, he did indeed threaten the Ukraine government regarding the official that was investigating the company that put his son on their board. He proudly bragged that he had forced the Ukraine government to back down on that investigation or he would block a billion dollars from being sent to the country. The gas company in question had for some reason hired Biden’s son to serve on their Board of Directors for $50,000 a month. That is $600,000 a year! Only because his last name was Biden.

I am glad that we know our primary job in Virginia. Hopefully, Washington can learn something from us. However, some of the Virginia legislators look as if they want Richmond to be more like Washington.

Frank Ruff Jr. represents Lunenburg in the state Senate. His email address is Sen. Ruff@verizon.net.