McDonnell Strong, Deeds Moving Left in Homestead Debate

If the best you can do is scream "ABORTION”, while your own constituents face losing jobs, you have to ask yourself – Is Creigh Deeds the man Virginia needs as her next Governor?  Sound overly simplistic?  Not if you had listened to yesterday’s gubernatorial debate at the Homestead.

Everyone agrees that transportation is a big issue in the Commonwealth.  Earlier this week, former AG Bob McDonnell unveiled a plan to help solve Virginia’s transportation woes.  Virginia Sen. Creigh Deeds – no plan.

McDonnell is calling for Virginia’s two US Senators – Jim Webb and Mark Warner – to vote against “Cap and Tax”.  Deeds is “non-committal”.  This would be bad enough for any candidate for Virginia’s highest office.  To add insult to injury, thousands of Deeds’ own constituents work at a Mead Westvaco plant in Covington which faces closure if “Cap and Tax” passes.  To quote McDonnell,

“If you won’t take a stand for 1,500 jobs in your district, people in Virginia can’t be confident that you’ll protect jobs statewide. A governor needs to take a stand and say if it’s wrong for Virginia, I’ll oppose it (cap and trade).

 

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Bob McDonnell’s Transportation Plan

While Democrat candidate Creigh Deeds is still trying to figure out how many debates he can duck, GOP standard bear Bob McDonnell has unveiled a plan to improve the Commonwealth’s transportation infrastructure while creating jobs and streamlining government.

Check out this great snapshot by Bearing Drift’s Jim Hoeft.

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O’Malley’s Big Parade

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley didn’t get much of a reception on Capitol Hill Thursday. His friends at the Sun tried to put some lipstick on that pig by calling it a receptive, if tiny, audience. Calling an audience of one tiny seems like hyperbole even for the Sun.

Notice that O’Malley didn’t brag about making the trains run on time.

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Let’s Double the Gas Tax!

Tertium Quids notes that the federal highway trust fund is running on empty (it will run out of money in FY2009), while the earmarks just keep on coming:

…(proving, again, that when earmarks are on the line, partisanship, principles and common sense don’t stand a chance).

And the GOP still can’t figure out why we lost in 2006?

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NE Collector Road – Let’s Print Some More Propaganda

It’s great to see that the Daily Times and their ace city reporter, Laura D’Alessandro, are back to their old ways. Rather than ask a few questions, D’Alessandro again takes the easy approach to what she loosely calls journalism and prints nothing but propaganda from the city of Salisbury and the developers of the Aydelotte Farm project.

While portions of the road have been paved by Wicomico County, the rest of the work has been done by the city, but not at the expense of the current tax base.

Thanks to the developer of The Village at Aydelotte Farms — a recently annexed property that came in under the caveat that the North East Collector be paid for by its future tax base — existing residents will enjoy a shorter ride to the mall and a hike and bike trail leading from the development to the city park before the development is even finished.

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Virginia Dems – Tax, Tax, and Tax Some More

Why should you enact a perfectly rational means of addressing transportation infrastructure when you can tax the Commonwealth into oblivion?

Ask Del. Phil Hamilton (R-Newport News), who just had such a proposal shot down by Senate Democrats. It’s just too easy to raise taxes.

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Virginia Democrats Want ALL of Your Money

We need more taxes to “invest” in more things. EVERY dollar spent by government is a dollar well spent.

Where have we heard that before? Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine and his merry band of liberal legislators want it all.

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Will Hamilton Bill Pass Muster in Senate?

It seems that the Daily Press’s Shad Plank is literally live blogging the Virginia General Assembly’s special session. After 10PM we learn that a bill sponsored by my old friend, Del. Phil Hamilton (R-Newport News) has passed the House.

Hamilton’s bill would take a portion of future tax revenue from the ports and put it into transportation projects. Given that a great deal of the need for new roads in Hampton Roads is related to port activity, this appears to be a sensible solution.

Unfortunately, the Senate Dems aren’t used to being sensible. Taxes appear to be their answer to almost everything. We’ll have to see if Hamilton’s solution can pass muster with a group that doesn’t seem ashamed by the term “tax and spend”.

UPDATE: The guys at Virginia Virtucon are reporting that the bill that passed was not Phil Hamilton’s but a floor substitute from Del. Glenn Oder (R-Newport News). The House must be really rocking tonight.

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Drake Votes to Subsidize High Speed Rail

Rep. Thelma Drake voted this week to “improve high-speed rail today.” Translation – Drake voted for a fat subsidy to AMTRAK.

How many times has the government attempted to “reform” AMTRAK? Neither Drake, nor those applauding her actions, seem to get it. If AMTRAK could really make it on its own, the for profit roads would be in the passenger business. In this context, “investment” is just more Clintonese for “tax dollars down the federal rat hole”.

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Virginia Highways – Tolls, Privatization or Sell-Out

The Shad Plank raises the question of $2 tolls each way on the Hampton Roads Tunnel and the Monitor – Merrimac.

Del. Phil Hamilton’s plan is the way to go for new projects. Privatize them.

For existing projects, tolls may well be the answer. Leasing highways, bridges and tunnels to companies like Macquarie is NOT the answer.

This scheme is being used in other states. States receive a big pot of cash up front and blow it on myriad schemes. When the money runs out, they want to raises taxes even more than before.

Gov. Byrd was right (at least on this one). PAY AS YOU GO!

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