McDonnell announces bonds for transportation; WaPo says his approval is over 60%
By JR Hoeft | Thursday, May 12th, 2011 | PolicyOne of Governor Bob McDonnell’s key promises during the campaign was to deliver a transportation plan without raising taxes – a position widely ridiculed by the Washington Post.
Today, McDonnell announced the issuance of the first of three $600 million bond sales authorized by the General Assembly that will help pay for a more than $4 billion investment in 900 transportation projects.
“This year, the General Assembly put partisanship aside and recognized that for Virginia to retain its status as the friendliest state in the nation for business, we must invest in transportation and create much-needed jobs throughout our commonwealth,” said McDonnell. “There is no better time to start getting transportation in Virginia moving again. Virginians all across the Commonwealth can expect to see construction on an unprecedented scale during the next three years.”
Undismayed, the Washington Post recently conducted a job approval poll of McDonnell.
Surveying a whopping 22% of identified Republicans, the poll showed McDonnell’s approval higher than any other statewide official or candidate – Republican or Democrat – at 62%.
Ironically enough, when the GOP was getting trounced in 2008, 33% identified as Republicans. Gallup says that number is actually more around 42% today. Even the low number is 11 points higher than what WaPo surveyed. (h/t: Right Turn)
Glad WaPo’s results aren’t skewed in any way.
Perhaps that’s why they buried McDonnell’s results on B1. Kind of tough for business for a news organization to bang on a guy over not raising taxes and a thesis, then admit on the front page how wrong they were! (h/t: Newsbusters)
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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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12 Responses to "McDonnell announces bonds for transportation; WaPo says his approval is over 60%"
Hopefully the Right will call out Governor McDonnell for pulling a Romney.
The Republicans never cease to amaze me. They campaign against the Federal defecit, go after Obama for borrowing, but forget about President Bush’s massive expansion of the Federal Government and now Governor McDonnell wants to borrow for transportation, so he doesn’t have to raise taxes during his 4 years in the Governor’s Mansion. Whose gonna have to raise them to pay off the bond purchases?
There’s nothing wrong to borrow for long term infrastructure projects or to stave of a depression/recession. But don’t lie about the long term costs of doing so. Cutting taxes and increasing spending doesn’t work (just ask Bush)!
Not to repeat what was posted by ToR, but to do the borrowing, he actually had to raise the Commonwealth’s debt limit. Can you imagine how the republicans would have “Howelled” if the democrats had done so. I have absolutely no problem with borrowing for capital improvements, including transportation. That’s not the issue. The issue is the admitted need to raise taxes in the future to make these debt payments without doing so in the beginning. Politically, savy move; from a Governance standpoint, totally irresponsible. Great PR; terrible governing.
And yet, for the 13th of the last 14th month, state revenues have grown. And, in the past 6 months, revenues have grown 7.7%.
Still not seeing the need to raise taxes.
Additionally, ToR, I presume you will never borrow for student loans, a home, or for a car. ‘Cause, clearly, you’ve got the disposable income lying around to pay for all that and don’t see any current and future benefit for doing so at low current interest rates.
Well yes J.R., plead poverty while you cut the funds you provide to the cities and counties for schools, public safety, courts and justice, and human services, and to colleges and universites, and then spend new money on transportation. Yes, a slick move, and one that anti tax proponents really love to see. To me, it just proves the distrust of government for the old shell game. Fact is, any citizen who does not realize the sleight of hand that the Governor has accomplished in taking funds from the core areas and transferring them to transportation just does not want to know. For now, new money ought to go to restore services and to pay down the debt to VRS; instead, he is just borrowing. Leadership, I don’t think so.
“taking funds from the core areas and transferring them to transportation”
Mike says transportation isn’t a core area??????
Well of course Brian, you were one of the first to call for a constitutional referendum to stop what you claimed was use of the transportation trust fund for other than transportation, yet when the opposite occurs, you call it a core area of government. This is a republican shell game, and it is working to the detriment of our citizens. Citizens throughout the state will have to pay more of the cost of the schools, courts, public safety, and human services, because the Governor is using general funds for transportation. Smoke and mirrors which is necessary for a republican Governor to deal with an anti tax House of Delegates. Some things never change.
But Mike’s support for transportation does, depending on which Party the Governor is.
No Brian, that is simply not true, but of course, you know that. I am pleased that finally we are making a dent in our list of deferred projects, but I believe it is prudent to pay for these from funds collected for transportation, not to steal these funds from the General Fund, thereby reducing funds provided to localities to support local services. You know Brian, for things like the arts. But I always forget; you are simply in this game as a tactician; how can you spin the facts to benefit the candidate for whom you are a hired gun. Forget what is best for the Commonwealth, that concerns you not one wit.
Guys, nobody pays cash for capital construction projects. It makes no sense. That’s like paying cash for a house. You don’t do it, even if you have the cash, because you’ll save money in the long run through financing.
The bonds we sold here were at around 4%. That’s great and it confirms what the Governor has been saying about the costs of construction now.
There’s a difference between contracting debt (and raising the debt limit to do it) to build physical things that become assets and have long-term value (what we are doing here) and contracting debt and raising the debt limit to provide transfer payments to the states to pay for services. That’s the kind of stuff you should pay cash for.
This is what we need to be doing to fix our transportation problems.
Thanks for that basic lesson in public finance, but that is not the point. The point is, you have to make the debt service on the bonds and on the anticipation notes, and to do so, funds must be identified to make future debt payments. It has already been acknowledged by Sean Connaughton and the Governor that this is so, but instead of responsibly dealing with that requirement in the present, it has been put off for another administration. I have acknowledged herein that I understand the intrasigence of the House of Delegates, and that they will just as soon cut off at the knees a republican or a democratic Governor, but to increase the debt limit when you know new transportation funds will not be there to pay the debt, is to steal from education, courts and justice, human services, and public safety.
I was convinced that income that is supposed to be dedicated to transportation was sufficient to service the proposed debt without threatening Virginia’s credit rating. It also made sense to me to borrow the money while interests rates are low.
However McDonnell has maxed out our credit cards and what are we going to do after this to meet all the transportation needs not addressed by the current level of borrowing? I also wish to point out that large portions of our improvements will be 3P (Public Private Partnerships). Does 3P lower the tolls? No it does not. 3P does not lower the tolls or limit the toll increases, they just pocket the money saved through more efficient management as profits. More often then not, the investors are foreign corporations and the profits they realize are sent beyond our borders.
Yes LittleDavid, well said. For example, most Virginians pay about $100 in gas tax per year, and have access to almost every highway. In a few years, those who commute through the mid town tunnel will pay $750/year in tolls, and still will pay about $100 in gas taxes. Those who were enamored with PPVs just used them as a straw man to stop increased gas taxes; now that we see the cost of PPVs, my prediction is that many of these politicians will run away from them as fast as possible.
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