NOVA Republicans "Covering their Fannies"

People who live or work in Northern Virginia would pay steep new fees and higher taxes under a $578 million transportation plan being circulated by six Republican delegates from the region.

Having voted for months to block statewide tax increases that were pushed by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) and the Republican-controlled Senate, the House members said their constituents will gladly pay more as long as the money raised is used only for road and rail projects in their area.

That's right, after months of blocking any real chance for transportation relief to Northern Virginia, NOW our brave Republican delegates come to the rescue - after the General Assembly has passed a budget and left town for the summer!  Oh sure, "better late than never," I suppose.  However, is there any reason to think that Delegates Albo, Callahan, May, McQuigg, Rust, and Lingamfelter have any influence on their flat-earth, anti-tax brethren in Richmond?  Call me cynical, but I'm just a wee bit skeptical. 

As are, apparently, Brian Moran (D-Alexandria) and Richard Saslaw (D-Fairfax).  Here's Del. Moran:

"I'd hope they could persuade their leadership that the people in Northern Virginia are exasperated at the lack of response in Richmond," he said. If they cannot, he said, "then we would need more persuasive legislators."

Now, here's Sen. Saslaw:

Saslaw accused the GOP lawmakers of offering a plan that is unlikely to be passed in order to appease constituents who are angry about the lack of transportation funding in the state budget.

"This is strictly an exercise in gamesmanship to cover their fannies," he said.

Delegates Moran and Saslaw have hit the (GOP) nail right on its (thick) head.  When it mattered, NOVA Republican delegates were AWOL.  Now that it's all over but the shouting, the battle has already been lost, etc., our fearless Republican heroes ride to the rescue. 

Uh guys?  Earth to NOVA Republicans?  It's too late.  Where the heck were you when Tim Kaine proposed new transportation spending and revenue sources in the first place, back when all this water would have been falling as snow?  AWOL.  And where were you during the months-long General Assembly stalemate that just came to a miserable end?  AWOL.  And where will you new "plan" be when you present it - assuming you actually DO present it - to your Republican colleagues in Richmond?  In the morgue, sitting on a slab of ice, DOA.

It's time for new leadership in NOVA, and in Virginia in general.  By now, it's obvious that the Republicans are not serious, although they certainly know how to toss out red herring with the best of them.  Gay marriage. Flag burning.  Peoples' nicknames. ANYTHING to distract from their miserable record of failure. Well, unfortunately for these guys, the voters of Virginia aren't clueless.  We're paying attention.  And come November 2007, we're not going to put up with Albo et al.'s "fanny covering" any more.

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