Retiring Delegate Leo Wardrup reviewed his Comprehensive Transportation Act of 2007 (HB 3202) at the Virginia Beach Republican Party breakfast yesterday, crafting an argument that the vast majority of Democratic legislators voted in favor of abuser fees. It seems this fall, the Republicans will attempt to characterize this as flip-flopping. Of course, he doesn't mention that there was never a vote over abuser fees apart from the vote on HB 3202.
Pulling out a shotgun characterization of the Democratic position on the fees, he charged, among other things, that "Democrats want to give Virginia's worst drivers a free ride." Discussing abusive driver fees as part of the statewide transportation funding, he pointed out that these amount to a projected revenue stream of over $60 million annually. This amount, he argued, isn't really a large part of the funding package. The general fund surpluses, of which 2/3 will go to transportation, and appropriations from the general fund surplus ($500 million in the FY 08 budget) will provide much more of the funding. But he didn't miss the opportunity to charge in a handout he provided for the event that "Democrats are siding with the law-breakers to the detriment of law-abiding Virginians" going far afield to mention illegal immigrants, convicted felons, juvenile offenders, and keeping capital offenders from capital punishment eligibility.
Now, this is all rich, but limiting the discussion to a review of transportation math, one must wonder about the projections. Either the abuser fees won't improve highway safety or we are going to develop a new 2.5% (an estimate of Virginia's abusive driver population offered by Delegate Welch) bad driver pool each year. After all, the projected stream never varies from 2010 onward. Next, the slight of hand over new taxes is always intriguing. Somehow the Democrats only have one solution for Virginia's transportation challenges: higher taxes. But the Republican solution is nothing more than a mandate for the regional authorities to impose new taxes. Apparently Republicans draw a distinction between higher taxes and new taxes. Then there are the projected surpluses. Delegate Wardrup sees the state well in the black in FY 08: counting on at least $500 million. What happens if that surplus fails to materialize? An unfunded authorization to spend money; a familiar Republican theme, isn't it? I wonder if a really successful Republican businessman was ever elected to statewide office in Virginia, would this kind of math go unchallenged?
Delegate Wardrup spoke for Delegate Welch, Senator Stolle, and candidate Chris Stolle when he indicated that they would pledge to ensure these fees remain in effect. They are also going to "ensure the effects of the law are limited to the most serious offenses and repeat traffic offenders." A set which evidently is refreshed every year.
Cross posted at VBDems.org - Blogging our way to Democratic wins in Virginia Beach! Go RK!
We took $500M from the General Fund and put it towards roads instead of appropriating $18M which would have given 10,000 kids subsidized childcare and we also massively underfunded mental health (for the last decade). It's a good thing we didn't underfund it more or we might have had three mass killings by mentally ill young men in Virginia intead of only two! Phew.
It's also nice he's talking about future surpluses, which it now turns out don't exist. Maybe he spun it like this:
We also committed to borrow millions of dollars against future surpluses so that our children will be paying for our roads. Make sure you have lots of kids so they can pay our bills ok everyone?
And then, I'm sure he talked about the local authorities....
We also got Northern Virginia and Tidewater to pay for their own roads because we're used to them paying for everything anyways. The urban/suburban caucus is going to have superior numbers after the next census so the Republican caucus felt it was important to squeeze as much blood from those areas before they started readjusting formulas. Thank you, thank you very much.
I'm also glad he finally smoked out the Democratic Caucus on this. I've always thought that the Democratic Party Platform was Pro-Drunk Driving, Pro-Reckless Driving, Pro-Suspended Driving, and Pro-Road Killing generally (I think we're probably the Pro-Capital Murder Party also (didn't Jerry Kilgore say that)). It's about time someone called a spade a spade.
Good riddance Delegate Waldrup. Make sure you keep taking your lithium and we'll see you in the funny pages.
Or this 57-40 vote on the abuser fees in 2005: http://leg1.state.va...
There were at least two votes on the abuser fees separate from HB3202, and many Democrats voted "aye" each time.
I guess you also missed the fact that Del. Ken Plum, former chairman of the state Democratic party, signed on as a co-patron of the abuser fees in 2007.
But hey, since when has Raising Kaine cared about the facts on this issue?
Bob
I wonder how many $40 microrecorders take two years to get back from the "repair facility?"
Just one among many reasons while this throwback chose not to face the voters this fall. Now he's defending John Welch and Nick Rerras, both of whom face tough re-election challenges, and both of whom not only championed and voted for these fees, but were on the Transportation Committee of their respective houses. With friends like that ....
Another elitist Republican who thinks that taxes are for "other" people.
"I've never seen anything like this. Normally, people are fine with raising money in a way that doesn't affect everybody." --Delegate Dave Albo
McDonnell spoke on behalf of Republican legislative candidates running this year and said the GOP has a solid platform this year to crack down on illegal immigrants.The attorney general said Republicans want to make sure "that criminal illegal aliens are not rewarded and are not allowed to stay in this country."
He could start with Smithfield.
When a candidate is on the campaign trail, he/she can say what they want.
So now Democrats need to say:
"Delegate Waldrup is in favor of abusive driver fees because they don't apply to him. You see, Delegate Waldrup uses "legislative privilege" whenever he breaks the law to avoid prosecution. In fact, he used "legislative privilege" in 2005 when he ran a red light and caused an accident!!! You see, abuser fees don't apply to Delegate Waldrup.