More inactivity from Democrats on roads
By JR Hoeft | Monday, October 5th, 2009 | Policy, PoliticsOver the weekend, Bob McDonnell released an advertisement in Northern Virginia about his plan to improve the interstates and finish the Metro-Dulles rail system by privatizing ABC stores and generating other new revenue for transportation while protecting funding for education:
The ad comes on the heels of a letter from Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN), Chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure which stated Virginia ranks dead-last in putting stimulus money to work:
“In August 2009, almost six months after the enactment of the Recovery Act, I sent letters to the best and worst performers in putting to work Recovery Act highway funds. Since then, we have watched many States move aggressively to use these funds to create and sustain family-wage jobs, contribute to our nation’s long-term economic growth and help the United States recover from the worst recession since the Great Depression.
“Regrettably, Virginia is not among these states. Based on the State progress reports submitted to the Committee in September 2009, Virginia has fallen far behind other states in putting to work its Recovery Act highway formula funds.
“According to submissions received from all States and the District of Columbia, your State ranks last among all States (51 out of 51) based on an analysis of percentage of Recovery Act Highway formula funds put out to bid, under contract and underway.As of August 31, Virginia had begun construction of projects totaling only 17 percent of the State’s funding.
“I strongly urge you to refocus your efforts to implement the Recovery Act and use the available funds to create and sustain family-wage jobs. These jobs are critical to Virginia’s and the nation’s long-term economic growth.”
The connection, of course, is that Bob McDonnell is moving aggressively to talk about transportation and has a plan to back it up while Creigh Deeds has said that we need to wait for a panel after election day.
It also demonstrates that while Democrats might talk a good game about transportation, when it comes to actually doing something about it, they do precious little.
“Every Virginian who has ever sat in traffic should be extremely disappointed by news that the Kaine Administration has allowed millions in federal dollars to sit idly by while congestion worsens in the Commonwealth,” said McDonnell. “The Governor has apparently decided to let this money sit in state coffers, while we all sit in traffic.”
But Democrats are quick to point out the criticisms of McDonnell’s plan to generate new revenue for roads.
“Bob McDonnell’s plan to fix Virginia’s roads has been described as ‘dead on arrival’ for a reason,” said DPVA spokesperson Allison Jaslow. “His plan will clearly steal money intended for our public schools, the innovative solutions he touts are hollow, and frankly its unconscionable that he continues to run a campaign that deliberately distorts those facts.”
Of course, what Jaslow fails to point out is that the following programs being proposed by Candidate Deeds are also funded by the General Fund. Hence, are they also designed to “clearly steal money intended for our public schools”?
1. Land for sportsmen
2. Funding for Wounded Warrior Program (no specific amount)
3. Fully fund the Automated Disability Claims Processing System for vets (no specific amount)
4. Expand services of one-stop centers for veterans (no specific amount)
5. Property tax relief for disabled vets (less money to General Fund)
6. Allow spouses of active duty military to qualify for unemployment benefits (no specific amount)
7. Tax incentives for small businesses that pay a portion of employee health coverage (less money to General Fund)
8. Virginia Share – split health care costs for small businesses between state, employer and employee (no specific amount)
9. Increase rolls of FAMIS, add dental coverage for pregnant women and increase coverage to 200% of FPL (no specific amount)
10. Emergency health insurance revolving loan fund (no specific amount)
11. Expand case-management services for prenatal care and post-partum care (no specific amount)
12. Fund the Woman’s Life Breast and Cervical Cancer Fund (no specific amount)
13. Fund research on embryonic stem cells (no specific amount)
14. Efficiency Improvement Office (no specific amount)
15. Education Performance Audit Loan Fund (no specific amount)
16. Development of 3 biomass facilities ($15 million total)
17. Incentives for wind projects – state grant programs (no specific amount)
18. Sales tax exemption for Energy Star applications (less money to General Fund)
19. $25 million more to weatherization ($25 million)
20. Invest in smart grid and national grid technology (no specific amount)
21. Invest in clean coal research (no specific amount)
22. Invest in infrastructure for natural gas (no specific amount)
23. Expand solar manufacturing incentive grants (no specific amount)
24. Tax exemptions for residential wind and solar projects (less money to General Fund)
25. Income tax credit for residential expenditures on energy efficiency equipment (less money to General Fund)
26. Federal payroll tax refund to business that create jobs (less money to General Fund)
27. Small business capital investment tax credit (less money to General Fund)
28. Double Governor’s Opportunity Fund
29. Rural Business Fund (no specific amount)
30. Finish last mile of broadband – exemptions, deductions and tax credits (no specific amount)
31. Double matching grants for tourism ($600,000)
32. Improvements for business one-stop website (no specific amount)
33. New office within the Department of Business Assistance for small business start-ups (no specific amount)
34. Fund consumer education programs (no specific amount)
The difference, of course, is that Deeds has no plan for new money to pay for these programs while McDonnell’s transportation plan has more than twelve new revenue sources. If anyone is “stealing” from the children, it’ll be Deeds.
I do have to give the Democrats credit though. At least they’re now talking about an issue that matters to a majority of Virginians. Unfortunately, Deeds used this weekend for more personal attacks on McDonnell instead of having a serious discussion about our priorities in transportation and how to fund them.
While McDonnell was releasing the above ad about transportation, the Deeds campaign decided to go after McDonnell for stating to the National Right to Life Committee in 2008 that elections are about “those policy makers with the votes determine whether or not we’re going to have a Pro-Life state.”
In other words, Deeds decided to attack McDonnell for Government 101: those elected set policy.
Of course, what the Deeds camp also failed to recognize in this line of attack is that support for abortion rights is now only 47% – a drop of seven points in just a year. So, I’m not quite sure how that 47% is quite going to get them over the hump in November.
The bottom line is Deeds wasted another weekend not talking about transportation, taxes or things that matter to the average Virginian. And our governor has wasted more time on behalf of the Democratic National Committee in Texas, New York, New Jersey, Kentucky, Connecticut, Vermont, Tennessee and Alabama over the past two months instead of prioritizing how to spend federal transportation dollars.
“We have failed to address our transportation challenges for far too long. In this campaign my opponent vows not to even have a specific transportation plan for voters to consider, foreshadowing continued inaction on this critical issue if he is elected. The time has come to get serious about transportation in Virginia again,” said McDonnell.
The likelihood of Democrats participating in any sort of concrete debate though is about as likely of them actually pouring it to improve Virginia’s roadways.
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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.
Comments
13 Responses to "More inactivity from Democrats on roads"
While Creigh Deeds might not have a specific transportation plan, he is at least open to using an increase in fuel taxes to pay for any transportation improvements.
A large part of McDonnell’s plan is to rely on tolls to fund transportation improvements.
I will provide a link to the American Trucking Associations website from which I will quote the following:
“The federal fuel tax remains the most cost-effective way to fund essential congestion-reducing infrastructure projects. Tolling and public-private partnerships cannot match the efficiency and equitability of fuel taxes. The collection of fuel taxes costs only a few cents on the dollar, while versions of tolling can cost one-third of the revenue collected.”
Now, the ATA (American Trucking Association) is addressing a possible increase in the federal fuel tax, not the Virginia state tax, however the reasoning remains the same when the subject of state funding comes up. By the way, the membership of the ATA is not a group of left wing tree huggers. One of the banners on the site claims they represent “The Voice of the Industry that Moves America’s Freight.”
Now, as a self-employed, small business, truck driver I find the direction Creigh Deeds is headed when it comes to transportation as preferable to the completely unacceptable plan that McDonnell has rolled out. McDonnell’s plan might be more detailed, the details are unacceptable to my industry. While I doubt that the final result of what a Creigh Deeds administration transportation plan will end up being will be completely acceptable to me in every detail (all funding options remain on the table) at least with his leadership my preferences and the preferences of the leadership in my industry will still have a seat at the table.
My absentee ballot went into the mail this morning. I voted for Creigh Deeds. I might be burning bridges with a McDonnell administration, however all his bridges are going to have a toll on them and I just as soon would like to see them burnt to the ground anyway.
David, I have no problem with your adoption of the “Vote for Deeds – He’ll raise taxes” platform.
I have a problem with Sen. Mark Warner in television ads saying Deeds won’t.
You both can’t be telling the truth. Who’s lying?
Well you seem to accept that a toll is not a tax. Us truck drivers realize that a toll end ups taxing the end consumer. We are not going to pull that freight that requires a toll without the cost of the toll being passed onto the consumer.
But McDonnell’s plan includes an unconstitutional tax on interstate commerce. He will attempt to pay for Virginia’s tax improvements by placing a toll on commerce that passes through our state. Parts of McDonnell’s plan have been described as being DOA (Dead On Arrival) at the state level. Truth is that parts of his plan as they affect federal funding are DOA when the Constitution is considered. It ain’t Constitutional to tax interstate commerce. McDonnell is supposed to be a lawyer, well evidently he ain’t a very good one. His plan includes taxing interstate commerce and the trucking industry will take him to task for it and WE WILL WIN!
Little David, I didn’t say anything about tolls. You did. You can blather on and on for paragraphs about things no one else said but you, and that’s fine.
Is Deeds going to raise taxes or not? You say “yes” and Mark Warner says “no”
I’m trying to figure out who isn’t telling me the truth.
I am unaware how Mark Warner fits into this debate.
I voted for Creigh Deeds because he supports increased fuel taxes while Bob McDonnell supports increased tolls.
I personally support increased fuel taxes over increased reliance on tollroads. My industry, not just me, supports increased fuel taxes over tolls.
I guess you Virginia Republicans are too willing to wipe your feet on the interests of the trucking industry. Creigh Deeds is willing to give our industry a voice at the table.
Much of Bob’s proposals will not even pass constitutional muster. Look at his proposal for putting a toll on I-85 for example.
I’m sure your assessment about the GOP and the trucking industry, LD, will come as a surprise to John Cox.
Your candidate seems to think Mark Warner fits into this debate. He paid to put him on TV talking about it.
J.R.,
After a brief look at John Cox’s resume, I find that his candidacy might have appealed to me if he was running against Bob Tata. Since he is not running against Bob, Bob still gets my vote.
Brian,
While Mark Warner endorsing Creigh Deeds might appeal to some I will state that the endorsement by that other guy with the last name of Warner would have had even more weight with me.
It is too late for my vote to be influenced since my vote has already been cast.
David, do you have a problem? I wasn’t trying to influence your vote. You brought up who would or would not influence you. I don’t care.
I just wanted to know if you are lying to me about Deeds and taxes or is Mark Warner lying to me.
Brian,
From what I have been hearing, most often from adds presented by supporters of McDonnell is that Deeds is trying to thread the needle with that he will not raise taxes to raise revenue for the General Fund however that all options remain on the table when it comes to increasing revenue for transportation and yes that includes a fuel tax increase. I’m sure you have seen that video yourself, how could you avoid it since it is plastered everywhere?
I’m not sure what Mark Warner is saying since I have not seen his statement. However if he claims Deeds will not sign a transportation bill that includes an increase in the fuel tax then he is mistaken because Deeds himself has indicated he would. That is one of the reasons I cast my vote for Deeds, although I am less then confident that he will be presented a bill to sign by the legislature that includes a fuel tax increase; but I can hope. Perhaps as a grand compromise there will be some tolls on new construction only and an increase in fuel taxes as well. While I dislike ANY tolls, this would at least be preferable to the McDonnell plan to put up toll booths on existing freeways and not even use the revenue to make improvements to the corridor tolled.
At least I can take some solace in that even if McDonnell is elected, much of his plans to toll existing interstates will never achieve approval from the feds. Google Pennsylvania Act 44 and see how Pennsylvania’s attempt to put a toll on I-80 was gunned down by the feds and McDonnell’s plan will face much the same fate. In fact McDonnell’s including such aspects in his plan despite Pennsylvania’s experience calls into question just how informed he is. Why does McDonnell think Virginia can win approval to do what Pennsylvania was told they can not?
[...] dollars continues to depress and sully what little shine was left to his legacy. Lest we forget the public blasting our great Commonwealth took for Tim Kaine’s incompetence: “In August 2009, almost six months after the enactment of the Recovery Act, I sent letters to [...]
Interesting writing. I was looking for a few differint things, this seemed to sum it up well. Added to my bookmarks.
[...] on. This latest blunder regarding transportation is hardly his first error with VDOT. Kaine was publicly ridiculed by Congress for coming in 51st out of 51 states (including DC) in using federal funds. Kaine’s bids for [...]
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