Mark Warner: No room to talk on Transportation
By Brian Kirwin | Monday, February 14th, 2011 | PolicySen. Mark Warner, who seems awful interested in state politics for a federal elected official, wants to compare records on transportation with Gov. Bob McDonnell.
McDonnell’s plan includes accelerating $3 billion in bond money into road projects.
That’s exactly $3 billion more than any Mark Warner accomplishment in transportation.
Mark Warner says McDonnell’s plan is not “fiscally conservative.” (WaPo)
Amazing that Mark Warner never complained about these bonds when they were initially approved by Tim Kaine, who Warner thinks would be just perfect to serve in the US Senate (WaPo).
So, using $3 billion of bonds for roads is fine for Kaine but the same bonds are somehow wrong for McDonnell? Somehow the Washington Post didn’t ask that question.
Mark Warner, whose record on transportation was so poor that Northern Virginia voted against his tax increase for roads.
The People’s Republic of Northern Virginia voted against a road plan. Great job, Mark! I never thought that was possible until you came along.
Of course, when you raised taxes on everyone two years later, you didn’t raise a penny for transportation.
Now it’s suddenly your favorite topic?
Mark, next time you pick a topic for criticism, pick one that you had at least a smidgen of success in.
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The right wants to jeer him. The left wants to censor him. Moderates usually want both. Brian Kirwin is a political consultant and public relations strategist in Virginia Beach with a lightning-rod flair. Brian also serves on the VB Arts & Humanities Commission and frequently appears on Hampton Roads theatrical stages, if only to prove that all actors aren’t liberals. Kirwin’s columns stir up debate and hit the political scene with no punches pulled.
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Comments
6 Responses to "Mark Warner: No room to talk on Transportation"
Yep. You’ve got a point. The McDonnell plan is better than nothing. Kaine at least tried to do something on transportation, although the biggest part of it was ruled unconstitutional. Warner, aside from pushing the two sales tax referendums that failed, did nothing on transportation.
Sometimes WAPO spells macaca as transportation or some other term the Dems want to harp on without ever mentioning what they did or did not do. The best thing is talk like the NRA. Get the facts out immediately and in their face. Warner is an even bigger zero than Webb as a Senator and a worse hypocrite if that’s possible.
Certainly nothing could be more fiscally responsible than, having reached the upper limits of bonded indebtedness, changing the rules so more can be borrowed and then borrowing as much as possible and spending that borrowed money as quickly as possible (assuredly before the end of Big Debt Bob’s term). It’s a fraud of Gilmorean proportions.
It’s always sad when people are posting at 6:14 pm on Valentine’s Day.
If Warner wants to help, he can make sure Virginia gets our fair share of federal transportation funding so we can pay off these bonds.
Correct me if I am wrong.
Payments for Virginia’s bonds will not be serviced by federal money, that is up to Virginia citizens to pay for Virginia’s debts. What the bonds will do is give us enough money to qualify for federal matching funds for new construction.
But what happens when the borrowed money runs out? The borrowing will finance McDonnell’s transportation improvement plans, but what about when the next Governor wants to build new roads?
Also, some of McDonnell’s plans for tolls will face problems with getting federal approval. He wants to toll I-95 with the tolls only being on the North Carolina border. Good luck getting federal approval on that one. Google Pennsylvania Act 44 to see where approval to toll Interstate highways are not automatic.
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