Governor blasts GOP lawmakers

By Brian McNeill

Published: July 10, 2008

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine blasted GOP lawmakers in the House of Delegates during a visit to Crozet on Thursday morning, blaming them for the General Assembly’s failure to produce any new money for transportation.

“We have one house of the legislature that is just bound and determined not to act,” Kaine said nine hours after the adjournment of a futile six-day special session on transportation. “It’s important for Virginians to see that. … They need to know which legislators are problem solvers and which are problem avoiders.”

The governor, a Richmond Democrat, had called lawmakers to Richmond to find a way to close a roughly $1 billion shortfall in the state’s transportation budget. In Central Virginia, dozens of roads projects have been cut or delayed because of the lack of funding.

Kaine had proposed a package of tax and fee increases to fund transportation projects, but his plan failed to garner support. The measure died not one but two deaths, initially meeting its end in committee, then being revived Wednesday. But Democrats declined to expedite it to a floor vote, and so it was left abandoned when lawmakers threw up their hands and called it quits early Thursday.

Competing plans

Competing plans emerged in both chambers, but none managed to gain the necessary bipartisan consensus for approval.

“It’s frustrating to me,” Kaine said. “But it’s more frustrating for the citizens.”

Kaine said there is “still a chance” that he will succeed in cobbling together a coalition to boost roads funding by the end of his term in January 2010.

“Next year, the House will be staring an election in the face,” he said.

Kaine said it was “pretty amazing” that no action was taken during the special session, adding that he gave Republicans numerous chances to sign on to serious transportation fixes.

“They’re in a hole,” Kaine said. “I keep giving them a ladder, but they keep saying, ‘No, governor, we’re going to use a shovel instead.’”

Tax resisted

Republicans in the House of Delegates resisted calls for statewide tax and fee increases, saying Virginians are already struggling to afford the rising cost of gas and food in these tough economic times.

Del. Edward T. Scott, a Madison County Republican who serves on the transportation committee, said that he was “not surprised” an agreement was not reached because there was never any consensus leading up to the special session.

“We all, the governor included, need to look at each other and find a consensus on transportation,” he said. “Heading into the special session, the governor clearly did not do that.”

Scott praised several ideas that gained traction among GOP lawmakers, but were ultimately killed in the Senate. One such proposal would have dedicated to transportation any royalties generated from offshore oil drilling, if a federal ban is ever lifted. Another would have earmarked revenue raised from economic growth spurred by seaports in Hampton Roads or airports in Northern Virginia.

GOP proposal killed

Scott added that he expects to again see proposals to allow Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads to raise taxes for transportation. A Republican-backed proposal to create such regional funding was also killed by the Senate.

Larry J. Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said Kaine had wanted his legacy to include meaningful transportation funding increases. Such a legacy, Sabato said, is appearing less and less likely.

“It’s an election issue now,” he said. “It’s unlikely that transportation will be resolved during his term.”

The GOP, Sabato said, is portraying itself as “the only thing standing between Virginians and a tax increase.” Meanwhile, he said, Democrats are painting the Republicans as obstructionists and unwilling to compromise for the good of the commonwealth’s transportation needs.

“It’s going to be up to the voters,” Sabato said. “There’s some truth in both claims.”