McAuliffe conducts blogger conference call
By JR Hoeft | Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 | PoliticsSeveral bloggers from across the commonwealth, including conservatives, participated this morning in a conference call with the new Democratic candidate for governor, Terry McAuliffe, as he continues his media and public appearance blitz across Virginia.
McAuliffe made abundantly clear in this call that he is not running this campaign as a conventional candidate.
“I’m going to do what I think is right,” said McAuliffe. “If you’re looking for someone who is going to be creative, think outside of the box, and shake things up, then consider me.”
McAuliffe promised to increase spending in education and healthcare, despite the state facing a $3B shortfall. When pressed about this seeming discontinuity, he said that he can’t do anything about the current budget.
McAuliffe also said that you cannot impose polls or increase taxes in a down economy. He recommended targeted tax cuts to retain business and citizens in the state.
His recommendation on increasing revenue in the state is to increase jobs, which he proposes to do by creating enterprise zones, empowering the governor with greater incentives for business, revising or eliminating the Dillon Rule, and creating alternatives in energy in transportation.
Perhaps his most interesting energy proposal – particularly for those in Hampton Roads and the Eastern Shore – is using chicken waste for energy and building a wind farm off the coast.
McAuliffe responded to a very interesting question by Vivian Paige, who asked about what his greatest weakness might be.
“Patience,” said McAuliffe. “I’d like to see everything done yesterday, but some things do take time.” If you don’t start laying the foundation for things today, you won’t get there, he said.
Norm Leahy was the other conservative, that I know of, who was on the call. He also offers his perspective.
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About the author
Conservative to the core; liberal with his opinion! J.R. has been involved in politics for over a decade and has worked on several campaigns in Hampton Roads. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Chesapeake and the Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia. He is also the director of “Blogs United” in Virginia. E-mail J.R.. Follow J.R. on Twitter.
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8 Responses to "McAuliffe conducts blogger conference call"
humm looks like he took a course in Obama math :-p
The Dillon Rule protects us from power hungry local governments. This guy is horrible.
Good answer to Vivian’s weakness question. Always answer with a weakness that you can spin into a positive when you apply for a job. Those hiring often do ask for your “strengths and weaknesses”.
Republicans may be right in principal on all the issues, but it seems the democrats are light years ahead of us in campaign strategy and tactics. Its like Hitler in WWII, evil guy, bad policies, but he still managed to take over Europe with comparatively less resources than anyone else. That being said Obama won not because he had the best ideas, but because he had the best campaign.
Britt, your statement “The Dillon Rule protects us from power hungry local governments” is completely absurd. What it does is subject people and local governments, the bodies closest and most responsive to the voters, to the whim of Richmond. We need to junk the Dillon Rule.
[...] McAuliffe and I agree on something BIG Posted on January 7, 2009 by Riley According to Jim Hoeft at Bearing Drift, during a conference call today Dem. Gov. hopeful Terry McAuliffe has [...]
[...] conference call with Terry McAuliffe this morning. Nothing new for me except that conservatives Jim Hoeft and Norm Leahy were also on the call. Hmm – ya think either one of these guys are going to be [...]
Riley, your suggestion is what is absurd. Since we’re into calling each other absurd now.
The Dillon Rule says that the local governments have the power granted by the state and no others powers. The Dillon Rule protects us much in the same way that the US Constitution does.
Without the Dillon Rule it would be OH so much easier to condemn land or zone people out of property rights. It provides structure.
In fact, the Dillon rule does not hinder growth. It actually assists regionalism as localities often act in a parochial manner in situations where they have more authority to act according to THEIR interests. So says, the Brookings Institute in a paper found here:
http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2003/01metropolitanpolicy_richardson.aspx
In some instances the Dillon Rule prohibits favoritism and crony style taxation/zoning.
If you like limited government, you like the Dillon Rule.
I love the Dillion Rule, because of it I got my job working for Gary Byler. Found out the city did not follow the procedures the state laid out for making skateboarding illegal on sidewalks, called the city out on it, ended up getting a ticket and Byler did it pro bono, then gave me an internship.
Amen for Dillion, without him wed have all sorts of crazy laws that otherwise would have had to be passed through the state legislature in some form.
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