A ‘no’ vote for all reasons

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: July 18, 2008

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and the General Assembly Republicans blame one another for the failure of the recent special session on transportation.

Or more accurately, both sides are pointing fingers over how it turned out. For those who did not want taxes raised — under any circumstances — the session was a big success.

We have to count two local political leaders, Delegates Danny Marshall of Danville and Don Merricks of Pittsylvania County, in that group.

Over the past two days, Marshall and Merricks have written on these pages that the governor didn’t do a good job of building a foundation for the special session and General Assembly Democrats just wanted to raise taxes.

You can’t raise taxes during a recession, can you?

Tough economic times certainly didn’t stop Franklin Delano Roosevelt from building all kinds of public works projects during the worst economic downturn in our nation’s history. Many of those projects played a role in helping America win World War II — and a lot of them are still in use today.

We know Virginia is running out of money to build new roads and bridges because projects all over the state are being postponed and cancelled.

That said, the Republican argument that the whole special session was a ruse to drag them to Richmond to reject what they’ve already rejected may be right. Kaine will probably use this issue against Republican members of the House of Delegates in the 2009 election — especially those legislators who represent congested parts of our state.

But Republicans didn’t help themselves during the special session. One of their bills called for yet another audit of VDOT. The state’s road-building agency has been audited, studied and reformed almost continuously since the Warner administration. Today, most new projects are built on time and on budget.

The GOP also was on shaky ground fighting to dedicate money from something that’s not allowed today — offshore oil and gas exploration. Virginia wouldn’t see any of that money unless Congress allows offshore oil and gas drilling and the oil companies search in Virginia’s waters. That’s an iffy future revenue source, at best.

Even if Kaine is guilty of not laying a proper foundation with the legislative powers-that-be, he certainly tried to convince Virginians. The governor held a dozen town hall meetings around the state — including one in Danville attended by Marshall, Merricks and Sen. Robert Hurt.

Everyone is being hurt by rising prices — especially for gas. But the Republicans in the General Assembly simply won’t raise taxes for road and bridge construction, even though it’s a state responsibility. That’s their bottom line, regardless of how low Virginia’s taxes are compared to neighboring states or how many road and bridge projects are postponed and cancelled or how much worse traffic congestion is or how many studies and reports and audits are conducted.

Refusing to raise taxes to pay for the core government function of road and bridge construction wasn’t a principled stand this year. It was politics, pure and simple. Our legislators minds were made up before they packed their bags for the trip to Richmond. Kaine could have held 100 town hall meetings and it wouldn’t have changed a thing.