KAINE WRECK

HOUSE OF DELEGATES VOTE ON TIM KAINE TRANSPORTATION BILL

0 YES
98 NO

Will the last person out of the Governor's office please turn the lights off?

UPDATE: Democratic plan fails 39-59.  The countdown to the end of the term for the worst Virginia Governor since Jim Gilmore continues...

Comments

oh grow up

[Kenton]

Next update:

"In other news, former Governor Mark Warner, the second worst governor since Jim Gilmore..."

[Not Frank Hargrove]

You are such an asshole.

Why the bitterness in comments 1-3?

Why is it that when Ben has an opinion that is different from the other Democrats who post here, he gets vilified? It's his blog and these are his opinions. Is he anymore of an "asshole" than Democrat bloggers are when they trash Bush?

Ben thinks Kaine sucks. He's entitled to his opinion. What's great is that we live in a country called the United States where everyone is absolutely free to have differing opinions. If you like Kaine, you are entitled to yours.

What is it about all you partisans (on either side of the aisle) that makes you so touchy when someone who agrees with you more often than not, does not toe every inch of your line? Sometimes I wonder if some of you would even try to defend Blagojevich if you were living in Illinois.

6:05....because Ben's comments have nothing to do with the topic or substance. It's all because Kaine endorsed Connolly and nnot his gal Leslie Byrne. That's all this is about and nothing more. There was nary a negative word about Kaine on here until his dastardly endorsement of Gerry.

In other news, will Ben ever remove the picture of Leslie?

I'm curious. What was the political motivation for Kaine to endorse Connolly anyway? Everyone with a pulse on that race knew he was the favorite, knew he was up in the polls. What was the political logic for the endorsement?

I'm honestly curious.

They've worked closely together on many issues, is my guess, and because Webb endorsed Byrne, so it equaled it out. Not a big deal...endorsements happen all the time, but Ben now hates Kaine with all his heart and might.

But as 6:16 pointed out Gerry won easily and in a landslide, so Kaine's endorsement didn't really do anything. Endorsements usually don't do anything, anyway...they are overrated. They only guarantee one vote -- that of the endorser. And maybe his/her spouse. For example, the Kennedy clan didn't help Obama in Massachusetts.

[Not a fan of NLS]

From the Richmond Times Dispatch "Del. Clifford Athey, R-Warrenton, sought to substitute Kaine's bill for Saslaw's bill on the House floor. Delegates voted down that effort 98-0. Democrats said they objected to the procedural maneuver, not the substance of Kaine's bill."

[Hans Bader]

There's room for a compromise.

Strip out the taxes proposed by the state senate except for some of its gas tax increase, since the gas tax properly makes people who use the roads pay for them.

Then add in some of the (regional) fees and taxes proposed by delegates, NOT including the awful grantor's tax, which drives down home values, harms the economy, and reduces local property tax collections.

Combine modest increases in state gas tax with modest increases in regional taxes/fees -- not including the awful grantor's tax, which should never be used as a way to pay for transportation, because it fails to make out-of-state motorists pay anything for using state roads, even as it burdens homeowners of modest means who seldom even use the roads.

6:13...every decision a politician makes, and every vote they take, has the potential to make someone happy or someone mad.

It may be that Ben chose to look past what he may have otherwise felt were failings of Kaine prior to the Connolly situation. Perhaps the Connolly situation has caused him to no longer be silent on other issues that relate to Kaine.

I don't pretend to be able to read Ben's mind. That being said, personally I do think that Kaine's governorship has not been a major success and that was reflected in today's vote. And I would further think that if you are someone who views the Kaine governorship skeptically, today's action would be chalked up as a failure.

Kaine has definitely been a seat-warming, mediocre, run-of-the-mill Governor. I wouldn't call him terribly bad or good either way.

[David Englin]

Ben,

The Governor's initial bill was a starting point, not an end point. Democrats (including the Governor, and with the help of his leadership) came to a unified solution: Saslaw's bill minus the gas tax, which would have delivered significant transportation funds while also exempting food and medicine from any sales tax increase and reducing the current sales tax on food by 1/2% (roughly $85 million/year in food tax relief). By resurrecting the initial bill, House Republicans were trying to set the clock back several days, which was nothing but political gamesmanship considering that they knew there was a consensus solution also on the table. Our goal was to get past that initial bill and have the opportunity to put forward the Democratic consensus bill.

I was a bit surprised that House Republicans ultimately let us amend Saslaw's bill to turn it into the Democratic consensus bill, and it was really a shame that they then decided to kill the consensus bill.

[Not on Pressing Personal Business]

Where's Caputo today while you are considering all this important legislation?

Del. Englin:

Was Senator Saslaw unified with you on stripping out the gas tax? Somehow I suspect he is one Democrat who might object.

And while the bill might have been a consensus Democrat bill, it would appear it was not a consensus House bill which would be more useful if anyone actually wanted it to pass.

Actually, while we are on this subject, I would be curious if you could find anything in the current budget that is of lower priority than transportation. If so, would you support cutting those other programs and shifting the money to transportation? Right now, things like the Science Musuem of Virginia are being funded while transportation is being neglected. Would you agree that it is more important to shift money in the budget away from non-core functions of government such as state-run museums and non-state agencies and use that for transportation? Aren't roads a higher priority than a collection of Faberge objects in a museum in Richmond? If there is to be no agreement on new revenues, shouldn't existing priorities be reconsidered?

[dems4Husseindems]

8:13 - If there's a case to be made that the cosmetic cuts you advocate will provide the revenue needed for transportation, please tell.

[Delegate Tim Hugo]

No. The Democrats did not want to vote on the bill because it was bad for Northern Virginia.

No matter what you think of his positions, Senator Saslaw is direct and straightforward. When asked in House Rules Committee why no Democrats in the Senate had introduced Governor Kaine's transportation bill, he stated that it was not a good deal for Northern Virginia.

Further, in the press, Senator Saslaw stated that "the problem is, Northern Virginia generates more of the grantor’s tax than any other region in the state……they’re not willing to raise a tax that will hit the region disproportionately and then share it with the rest of the state."

Governor Kaine sent all the Northern Virginia money to Richmond with very little coming back!!! This is a Kaine Wreck!!

Also, as I sit here on the House floor, any Democratic member can ask for Governor Kaine's transportation bill to be considered.

None have........because Kaine's transportation bill is a slap in the face to Northern Virginian taxpayers.

[Not Hussein (formerly Not Ben)]

This has been mentioned before, at least once by me, but even if he was a great governor, he would still be "the worst Virginia Governor since Jim Gilmore" if he wasn't a better governor than Mark Warner.

Dems4Hussein:

I could list a ton of cuts. Would it add up to a $1 billion? No. But it might be $200 million which means we need a lot less money to close the gap.

[David Englin]

Tim - You're engaged in a debate from two weeks ago. The consensus Democratic plan would have passed the Senate (with Saslaw's vote, Anon. 8:13 p.m.) and would have done the job we were sent here to do.

[Martin Lomasney]

Any revenue plan that doesn't generate at least $1 billion per years is window dressing and a political fig leaf.

The grantors' tax has no impact on real estate values and is paid disproportionately by commercial land owners recording leases and by developers which we should all be inclined to support.

9:18...The grantors' tax has a major impact on the seller's bottomline. Further, if you are speaking of builders when you state developers, you haven't read a builders contract. In all the years I sold real estate, there was not a builder's new home contract that did not transfer the grantors' tax on to the purchaser One representing the purchaser could go back and forth on other issues,but the purchaser paying the grantors' tax was set in concrete.
The issue I have is while corporate and the federal gov't will pay closing costs for employees being relocated, the members of the military get no reimbursement at all whether buying or selling
Many members of the military bought during the height of the market; they are now selling in a very different market. Adding this additional cost to them is wrong. Obviously, this applies to all sellers, but when you think about it, those selling and subject to the grantors' tax are moving and in many cases out of state.
I can only assume the logic is if you are moving, you won't be voting in Va.

d4d,
Your “cosmetic” argument is typical of the liberal excuses put forth to raise taxes. It is typical of the “we won’t see product for years” argument used against drilling for oil. If we never begin, we will never finish any project. Using your argument, even if we had the money for roads “why begin to build” because it will take years to finish. It is rather silly.

I believe that we should put the increases in tax revenues already being realized towards transportation and also creating a fund that can not be “raided” for other purposes.
The increases in spending in the past decade is ridiculous. I wish my paycheck had increased as much. it has not and I don’t have the money to keep giving because our governor can not make a simple decision to prioritize transportation and freeze spending elsewhere. I am also rather tired of Nova being viewed as the “rich uncle” for the entire commonwealth.

its funny to me - its mostly the Dems that are saying we are in a transportation crisis, but i sat in the gallery in the house today and i watched jen mcclellan & adam ebbin play on facebook during critical transporation funding discussions. can we say hypocrites??? the whole gallery was laughing watching them on there. this is what we elect our delegates to do?? its one thing to get on facebook on their personal time, but to do it in the chamber??? pathetic.

[charlie]

Now this is interesting:

http://baconsrebellion.blogspot.com/2008/07/capital-beltway-hot-lane-deal-did.html

The beltway lexus lane deal has express provisions to make sure private companies benefit if congestion decreases...