Over 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.
