Today's Washington Post has a revealing, albeit mind-numbingly stupid, series of comments by Jerry Kilgore on transportation. See if you can figure this one out:
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D), who was in the audience [at the Potomac Officers Club forum yesterday] said Kilgore has "no plan for added investment in transportation. He's saying you're on your own."In front of the group, Connolly criticized Kilgore for opposing the referendum in 2002, prompting Kilgore to say, "I supported the transportation referendum."
Kilgore later clarified that he supported "the right of the people in Northern Virginia to vote" on the proposed sales tax increase but did not urge people to vote one way or the other.
He said he personally would have voted against the sales tax increase but pledged not to "get involved" in any referendum that any of his regional authorities would propose.
OK now, everyone, is all that crystal clear? No? Well then, let's parse it for a minute. First, Kilgore gets criticized in a (rare) public appearance, this time for offering no money or plan to improve the transportation mess in Northern Virginia. That's undoubtedly true, unless you really CAN get something for nothing and transportation has suddenly become a free good. The other option is to privatize road building (i.e., all toll roads, all the time). Perhaps that is Jerry Kilgore's secret plan for transportation, because he's not offering any other source of funding -- except (possibly) for raiding the state's general fund and starving education, health care, law enforcement, cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay, and other state services. Great plan, Jerry!
Next, caught in his own illogic and abdication of leadership, Kilgore tries to wriggle out by (lamely) claiming that he "supported the [2002] transportation referendum" that would have raised $5 billion through higher sales taxes to pay for new roads and Metro. Say what? Is Jerry Kilgore saying (to paraphrase Republican criticism of John Kerry on Iraq) "he supported the tax increase before he opposed it?" Is Kilgore flip-flopping yet again? Does he simply have no clue what he's talking about? Or does this so-called "Conservative" now support raising taxes to pay for transportation after all? I'm sure that all of these possibilities will be music to Virginians' ears!
Oh, but wait, Kilgore "qualifies" his statement yet again by saying he really meant "that he supported 'the right of the people in Northern Virginia to vote' on the proposed sales tax increase but did not urge people to vote one way or the other." Huh? Kilgore supported having people vote for tax increases just for the fun of it, perhaps as an academic or philosophical exercise, even though he opposed them voting "yes" on said referendum? Well then, why have referenda at all, if you already know the correct answer? Whoops, I forgot for a minute, that's the Republican way. It's also Jerry Kilgore's entire plan for running the state: government by referendum, just like in Proposition-crazy California. And we see where that got them.
Finally, Kilgore "clarifies" (aka "flip flops") yet again by saying he wouldn't "get involved" with referenda, despite the fact that he has called for a constitutional amendment to allow Virginians to vote on any tax increase, barring an "emergency." Yeah, well I hate to tell you Jerry, but we are in an emergency right now, and it's called "complete and utter transportation gridlock."
So, again, what on earth is Jerry Kilgore talking about, and what kind of leadership does he think he's providing here? Perhaps Kilgore is having transmission problems with his Scott Howell-honed message? Or, IS that Jerry's message, trying to have it every which way on this issue, pandering to as many voters as possible, ducking any responsibility, and muddying his position(s) as much as possible?
Hey, maybe that's why Kilgore refuses to debate Tim Kaine and Russ Potts, because he knows they'll try to pin him down on his transportation "plan." And that would force Kilgore to wriggle and flip-flop even more than he's already doing; not fun. If that happens, of course, then the people of Virginia will see through the Kilgore smoke-and-mirrors machine and realize that there's nothing there, except perhaps the famous Doonesbury Dan Quayle feather. No wonder why Jerry Kilgore doesn't want to debate. Ahhhh....now I get it!