Kaine would’ve given a different budget to Deeds
I’m convinced of it.
Deeds repeatedly said he would not raise taxes except for Transportation. Does anyone honestly think that Tim Kaine would’ve handed Creigh Deeds a budget that not only did nothing for transportation but raised income taxes for the most general of government spending programs?
Not a chance. No way at all. Tim Kaine, the Governor who promised no tax increases without a constitutional amendment protecting the transportation fund and then pushed tax increases without any amendment in sight?
This budget proposal is nothing more than a whiny brat of a failed Governor who was NATIONALLY EMBARRASSED by losing the only 2 statewide races on his watch, including one in his own state.
Had Deeds won, he would’ve submitted a budget that Deeds could champion. With McDonnell the winner, Kaine submitted a budget that I don’t think Creigh Deeds would even vote for.
By the way, where is Creigh? Is Kaine’s proposal “on the table?” Will you vote for it? Was Tim Kaine’s thesis titled “How to pitch a fit while leaving office a miserable failure?”
I only wish Timmy thinks he’s got one more office run in him. Go for the US Senate, Tim. We all know how happy Webb and Warner are wandering around the Senate chamber scared that they’ll turn out like Robert Byrd. One of them is bound to ditch the gig.
And we could use another landslide victory.
Category: Government
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I would think Webb and Warner would be hoping they turn out like Robert Byrd and be serving until they are old and grey and have to be wheeled into the Senate to make important votes. Perhaps there is something going on with Byrd I am unaware of, but every time I travel through West Virginia, which is quite a bit, I have not yet noticed a dent in his popularity amongst West Virginia citizens.
As for Deeds, did you try to ask him what he thinks or did you post the questions here without giving him the benefit of answering? If the latter is what happened, perhaps J.R. can get him on a podcast and ask him those questions there. I think Creigh’s seat in the Virginia Senate is probably pretty safe for so long as he wants it. Unlike some that describe his political career as toast, I think he is going to remain an influential politician amongst his peers and his constituents.
Yes, Little David. In fact, I just called Webb on his cell phone. We chatted about the kids, he gave me a nifty recipe for spinach dip and I told him how great a rotisserie is for making duck, and we promised to share a latte together next time he’s in town.
NOT.
I do have an email response from his office that tells me he has no intention of listening to the majority of voters in his state, and I’m STILL looking for something that Mark Warner is a “radical centrist” about.
They don’t have to wait until their Byrd’s age to be “Wheeled” in the Senate. They’re being rolled right now.
OK, you at least sent an email query. But it would seem to me that Deed’s has an office phone number you could have called. I think the main stream media has a statement that goes something like “attempts to obtain a response from the Deeds office have not been responded to”.
Perhaps I am being too hard in my expectations from you as a blogger. However I think that if this is correct, it speaks up for the fairness the mainstream media attempts before they publish. But of course they have a few people on the payroll to get that job done.
David, when the checks start rolling in and I can spend an entire workday on one little story, I’ll get right on that.
Mainstream media? You mean those people who leave a message 15 minutes before deadline and print “did not respond to requests for comment”
Don’t get me started on the vaunted mainstream media.
How many minutes before you sent post on your E-mail request did you give?
I think politicians measure the difficulty to respond to everyone. Perhaps you do not measure up? I do not think you even made the real effort.
i feel one way or the other Mcdonnell isn’t going to be able to do anything for transportation with the House of NO in the way. it’s a yearly tradition for the VA GA, just like Christmas. Hampton Roads: “oh NoVA what did u get me this year- OH A BIG FAT NO!!!! you shouldn’t have.” “Oh and rural VA, even though u shouldn’t have any say so whatsoever on transportation, u got a big fat no too, awwwww.”
An update to this post…here’s McDonnell’s statement:
And here’s what the Speaker had to say…
Looks like there will be a re-write to me. Irony being, Kaine’s Secretary of Finance, Ric Brown, remains in the position under McDonnell.
You might be right Brian.
But…
The real problem with Kaine’s proposal is the politics. It’s actually good policy.
I wish he’d had the guts to propose it two years ago.
We should ge the ridiculoous car tax reimbursement spending program off the state’s books. It served its only purpose (electing Jim Gilmore). Years ago.
Eliminating that tax entirely and giving the localities a share of income tax revenue to make up the slack is the way this should have been handled in the first place if Gilmore had really been serious about getting ride of the personal property tax on cars and trucks, rather than scoring cheap political points.
The Governor’s timing, of course, is terrible.
The recession gives the GOP a reason to say “this is the worst of all times for a tax increase.”
Although Bob for Jobs might want to think about the fact that the change would put more money into local governments, facing their own budget woes and allow them to limit the number of people they have to let go.
It’s somewhat ironic that the first thing Bob for Jobs is going to have to do is increase the number of jobs that Kaine has already cut in his budget.
Without the additional revenue, cuts will have to be deeper. McDonnell has said he doesn’t want to cut public safety or higher education. That means the cuts will come at the expense of public education, social services and state employees. Kaine already made some deep cuts in those areas, even with the additional revenue. Without it, McDonnell is going to have to make some brutal cuts.
Steve,
I agree with you to a certain extent…Kaine did not make this revenue neutral.
If this were a direct cut the car tax / raise the income tax by an appropriate offset, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.
Instead, Kaine hopes to raise revenue by an additional $1B when Virginians just can’t afford it.
JR- I don’t have a problem with the raising of the additional revenue since it’s being used to help local governments, who have their own budget problems.
I would have structured the increase differently than Kaine. He could have done this in a way that makes Virginia’s fairly flat income tax (without looking it up right this minute, I think the top rate kicks in somewhere between $35,000 and $45,000 in income). If he’s added another bracket or two at the top to raise the money, I’d be happier with that.
Kaine simply proposed what he would have proposed had he been able to be relected. McDonnell has set a goal for himself that not even a magician could accomplish; that is, restore closed and curtailed services with no increase in taxes or fees.
In the end, Kaine has done him a favor, as at the end of this session when the budget negotiators are in the room, they can blame it all on Kaine and say they wouldn’t have accepted the end of the car tax if Kaine had done a better job.
Governance is the price you pay for getting elected, and since the republicans in the House have caused an eight billion dollar maintenance deficit in the condition of our roads and bridges, they have a long way to go to get back to zero.
The irony of this situation is that McDonnell and Bolling will start off by adopting a budget that will fire more people than they will cause to be hired in Virginia in their four years in office. That doesn’t fit on a bumper sticker.
Mike, bull.
If Kaine could’ve run for re-election, do you think he would’ve campaigned on increasing the income tax during a recession???
Mike, you’re a smart guy usually, but now you’re just making stuff up out of whole cloth.
Not only would he not have campaigned on this budget idea in a zillion years, he wouldn’t have turned around one month after being reelected and launched a tax increase that he would’ve disavowed during the entire campaign. He’d be pounded and the House of Delegates would’ve swarmed him.
Actually, I will enjoy the sweet irony of Bill Howell killing Kaine’s budget that kills the car tax once and for all. Perhaps Kaine will as well. Of course, then McDonnell and his team will then need to deal with another round of cuts totalling $2,000,000,000 or so, and that will mean more layoffs, firings, and reductions in crucial services for the sick, the infirmed, the elderly, and the needy. But the rest stops will reopen, so that when the Lt. Governor travels to Southside, he will have a place to stop. Fact is, we are coming out of recession and we have among the lowest taxes in the nation. We need to do more.
More what, Mike?