In one of the more heated races in Northern Virginia, Republican Patrick Forrest ran a hard campaign against incumbent Senator Janet Howell. The #1 issue in that race was Dulles Rail Phase 2 and the potential increase in tolls needed to ensure it gets paid for. Forrest made that the fundamental argument of his campaign – Howell had done nothing on transportation and the result would be major toll increases on folks in Loudoun to pay for Dulles Rail.
Howell, on the other hand, said Forrest was fearmongering, using false data that “wasn’t validated” and that tolls in Dulles would never be that high. She even put up a statement on her campaign website about it saying “Do not be deceived by those who are claiming exorbitant tolls!”
So isn’t it funny that in an email today sent by the Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus, Senator Howell’s Democratic leader in the Senate, Senator Dick Saslaw, is urging that we “[t]ell Gov. Bob McDonnell to reject sky-high tolls” by signing a petition.
In the body of the email, Saslaw states “In Northern Virginia, unless the state pays it’s [sic] fair share, the Dulles Rail project will be paid for with sky-high tolls. Starting next year, many commuters will be forced to pay over $2,200 per year in tolls.”
$2,200 in tolls equates to about $42 a week in tolls – $8.40 a work day. Right now, tolls are $1.50 at the main toll plaza and .75 cents at the on-ramps. That’s $3.00 a work day. Howell said herself – and it’s still on her campaign website – that MWAA’s only validated projection had tolls hitting around $14 round trip…in 2043. This was to argue against Forrest’s claim that $17 tolls would be the result of the mismanagement of Dulles Phase II.
Saslaw, like the rest of the Democratic caucus, have been desperate to raise taxes for transportation for years now, to the exclusion of every other idea. So attacking McDonnell for using tolls to pay for transportation is a page out of their own book. It’s to be completely expected. In Saslaw’s world, he asks you to not support sky-high tolls on one hand and asks you to support sky-high taxes instead.
When you have a senior Democrat claiming during her campaign to not believe those who are claiming exorbitant tolls, you have to wonder if Saslaw gave the rest of this caucus the same talking points. You’d think that Saslaw’s staff would at least be aware of what was going on in their own backyard – the toll issue has been big in Northern Virginia for a while, whether you’re from Loudoun or Arlington.
Governor McDonnell has done more on transportation than any governor in the last decade. So normally I’d be hesitant to take advice from any Democrat, but here, I have to agree with Senator Howell – let’s not be deceived by Dick Saslaw’s claim of exorbitant tolls.
