Interesting. On the same day that Mark Warner all-but-officially announces that he will be running for President in 2008, he also lets the three men who would like to succeed him that he does not approve of spending the state's hard-earned Warner/Kaine/Chichester budget surplus. Fascinating coincidence, as Mark Warner turns his attention to a national stage and looks to cement his legacy here in Virginia.Like Mark Warner, I am a fiscal moderate. I believe that government - like families - need to live within its means and balance its budget. However, like Tim Kaine, I also believe that we need to make important investments, particularly in education - the key to all our futures.
I'm sure Governor Warner agrees that educational investments are important. The only question is how to pay for them in a fiscally responsible manner, which Tim Kaine has done. That's why I sincerely hope that the Governor Warner will explicitly announce his support for Tim Kaine's proposed Pre-Kindergarten, "Start Strong" plan, which aims to "make high-quality pre-kindergarten available to all Virginia four-year-olds whose parents choose to enroll them." I also hope that Governor Warner will explicitly denounce reckless plans by Jerry Kilgore to squander the state's surplus and to move the state backwards into Jim Gilmore-style budget defcits once again.
Even yesterday, the Kilgore campaign was still complaining that Mark Warner had made a mistake with his administration's historic budget reform package that salvaged the state's AAA bond rating. Kilgore spokesman Tim Murtaugh said, "We see the massive surplus as absolute proof the tax increase was not necessary." Obviously, the Kilgore campaign just doesn't get it. Yet another example of why Jerry Kilgore is unqualified to be Governor of Virginia. He is fiscally reckless and will undo all the positive changes that the Warner/Kaine administration accomplished the past four years. That would be a terrible mistake. Let's not make it.