“Budget Battle” – Brian and Vivian talk about this General Assembly Session on WHRO
By JR Hoeft | Saturday, February 13th, 2010 | MultimediaBrian Kirwin and Vivian Paige are among the contributors on “What Matters” here on WHRO-TV to discuss transportation, the budget, the impending carrier moves, education, among others.
PS Cathy – it’s Jeff Daniels. And, Jeff – Michigan’s roads are terrible…and they have some of the highest tax rates in the country.
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JR Hoeft
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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13 Responses to "“Budget Battle” – Brian and Vivian talk about this General Assembly Session on WHRO"
another good show Brian. so u do believe that they’ll (GA) actually on a tax hike (if i understand u correctly)
Yes, the irony of Brian wailing about the loss of a carrier and support ships is truly amazing given the recent comments by high placed DoD personnel about the inability of the Navy to get its personnel to the ship in the event of an emergency because of the regular congestion at choke points. But that’s Brian for you; always ready with a quip, but devoid of any sense of what is really important.
Mike, your proposals wouldn’t have built a single road until at least 2017. No single driver would’ve been helped now in 2010 if your 2002 referendum passed. The YES CAMPAIGN admitted that they’d spend the first decade collecting taxes and paying for studies and not even start building roads.
I’m sorry you repeatedly fail to get your tax increases passed, either by referendum, or by writing checks to candidates who lose.
The only sad part is the transportation lobby still lets you carry its banner after your repeated failure to accomplish its goals.
So your point is to keep your head buried in the sand forever?
No, my point is that voters are showing no signs of agreeing with you any more than they have for the past 10 years.
So, your choice is either to ignore voters, or step aside for someone who actually persuades people.
Yes Brian, my view of public service has always been that elected officials must act in the public interest; that is, do what one would do if they could see clearly, think rationally, and act benevolently. Currently, the view in your party is to promise the moon, and then attempt to deliver. Nothing is more indicative of that than transportation, yet anyone who can see clearly knows that our system is crumbling before our very eyes. Promises won’t fill pot holes nor maintain and sustain the system, and when the voters get tired of the lies, they will demand a change.
Lies like what they are told light rail will cost. Lies like the third crossing will solve traffic congestion. Lies like “this tax increase will fix the problem”
Are those the lies you’re talking about?
@Mike, in reading your response to Brian, unfortunately the true corollary to your public service and elected official statement is “elected officials must act in the public interest;” at public expense. The flowing adjectives that follow are idealistic notions that are great sound bites for political campaigns, not responsible resourcing and governance.
What didn’t work when economic times were good will not work now when times are tough. The management structure and political patronage system that is in place for transportation needs to be kicked to the curb, and a replaced with a new management and political support system that is based on public needs and priorities, because we can’t afford political wants.
This means spending budgeted funds for appropriated purposes, not treating these projects as laundries for constituent patronage which some legislators use as cement for their political ambitions.
This also means a system and a process that doesn’t result in Virginia constituencies pitted against one another. We now have the equivalent of a Virginia North-South, East-West not to mention regional and municipal statewide transportation civil war that rages on in the legislature from session to session.
Well Tim, I don’t think seeing clearly and thinking rationally are platitudes; to me, they are operating principles to be applied continuously. To tell the public we can sustain a transportation system with a funding stream based on the gas tax now worth about 40% of what is was in 1986 is simply ridiculous, and that is demonstrated before our eyes everyday.
Mike, you read the first paragraph in my response, and nothing else. Your comment “Sustain a transportation system with a funding stream….” which I tried to point out is broken. I’m suggesting scrapping the transportation sustainment “system” which isn’t working due to some of the reasons I mentioned.
Instead of politicians and public officials uttering automatic Pavlovian responses i.e. “Potholes” – “Tax!”, “Road Maintenance” – “Tax! and Toll!”, “Light Rail” – “Tax!”, “Maintain Bridge” – “Toll!, look internally and justify why these people and their commissions with their “pocket” politicians should have jobs and budget authority and then move the justification outward from there.
The problem is managing resources to the public need, not spouting “platitudes” to sell a political want.
Yes, I got your point; I just don’t agree with it. Sure, there is inefficiency and waste in any bureaucratic system and I would never deny that. But that is not the primary issue in Virginia. The issue is a profound connection between denying the problem and getting elected to office. That is our Achilles heel, and the reason our situation will get far worse before it gets better. It is Johhny Joannou and Tom Gear appearing on television and telling the voters you can’t trust us to fix transportation, and then getting reelected. That is the problem.
Mike, again, I am not talking about “inefficiency and waste” in the “bureaucratic system” that isn’t functional. The “bureaucratic system” has to be flushed, restructured and prioritized. Business as usual with the same bad actors playing the same roles for the same reasons and the same agendas to separate more and more money from people who work for it, is a message that is playing out in current elections and high profile political retirements.
To continue the same “bureaucratic system” and wailing about taxes under these budget deficits and expecting something different, is insane. The next tax considered will probably be a voting tax to support mental institutions and incarceration of insane politicians, which as a matter of fact, I wouldn’t mind paying.
There has to be some aggressive thinking and leadership to change what isn’t working. This isn’t a “hopey changy” thing that is based on populism and anger, it goes to the fundamentals of why our parents and why we as parents have chosen to live and work in this Commonwealth.
OK, if you say so. I’m all ears. MJB sends!
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