Wagner on WRVA: Don’t blame me
Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, Jody Wagner, appeared Friday morning on Jimmy Barrett’s show on WRVA to counter the argument that she was partially responsible for the rash of revenue shortfalls in the budget.
Wagner said that it was unfair to accuse her of the shortfalls because of the recession and that many other people are involved in the projection process. She also said that the other 49 states also experienced the same issues.
She claimed that the revenue projections were not overly optimistic and that it was the “failed economic policies of the federal government”, which created the dilemma.
“If I’m powerful enough to be responsible [for causing the revenue shortfall], then you want me for lieutenant governor,” said Wagner.
She also advocated for people turn their securities to cash, if they thought there would be a recession.
Regarding the campaign, Wagner attempted to discredit the recent Democrat-leaning Public Policy Polling poll that showed Democratic statewide candidates universally trailing their Republican opponents by double-digits. She claimed the poll over-sampled McCain supporters.
“It’s very early and we haven’t begun communicating with the public yet,” Wagner said of her campaign.
She has been invited several times to appear on Bearing Drift and answer our questions, but the campaign has ignored the request.
Hear Wagner’s interview on WRVA:
Category: Campaigns and Elections
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Especially check it out between 6:30 and 7:30 in the interview where she completely loses it.
[...] from President Barack Obama (while campaigning for Dem gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds), Wagner is whining that Virginia’s revenue shortfall has absolutely nothing to do with her. Despite the fact that it was her job as the Commonwealth’s Finance Secretary to [...]
“If I’m powerful enough to be responsible [for causing the revenue shortfall], then you want me for lieutenant governor,” said Wagner.
Huh? So she’s saying vote for her if you think that she was able to screw the pooch so badly that we have a billion dollar short fall…….
And she’s wondering why she’s trailing?
She helps cause the shortfall, and now she advises people to turn securities into cash….
Should she be giving out financial advice at all?
Just listened to this interview, and I have to say, I was really entertained. For a candidate who is running on claims of experience and an impressive financial acumen, according to her, she really didn’t do a lot during her time in government. She abdicates responsibility multiple times in the interview, claiming that no one could have seen the budget shortfalls. She blames the recession, even though its barely a year old, and she has missed her budget projections pretty much every single time she’s submitted them, going back many many years. Even the radio host, in the intro comments on how often the projections have fallen short!
And when the host asks her how she puts the numbers together, she goes on and on about how the many people involved in the process. He asks her if she ever looked at the final numbers and said “this doesn’t look right”. And Jody never answered the question… Of course she hasn’t, becuase if she did, then she’d have some sort of responsibility for this mess! So basically we have one of two options for Wagner. Either she was a figurehead who really didn’t do anything, or she’s incredibly incompetent and can’t put together a decent product.
And when she’s asked about the best way moving forward, she doesn’t answer the question again, and just resorts to name calling and blaming the Federal Government. I for one would like to hear what she’s going to do, and see her take responsibility for the projections she signed off on. The buck stopped with YOU Jody.
But honestly the best part was at the end of the interview where the host wants to move on. She just kind of lost and it and started yelling at the host and then asked to move on to something new (what the host originally wanted to do)…
And no Jody, you HAVE been communicating with people. Virginians just don’t like what they’re hearing.