Spank That Donkey

Vivian Page, who is beyond a doubt one of the most respected Left Leaning Bloggers in Virginia has quite the proposal on the table.  Take it away Vivian:

Last time I looked, former governor Jim Gilmore’s “no car tax” plan was costing the Commonwealth $950 million. By killing this plan, either outright or over a period of a few years, that money could be used to fund transportation. Yes, this amounts to a tax increase, but only on people who own cars. Think of it as a user fee

 Now, Vivian favors Governor Mark Warner for the US Senate Seat, and he is pitted against my favorite Conservative, Governor Jim Gilmore.  We all know Jim Gilmore initiated the PPTRA, or eliminating the Car Tax, and by last 2001 budget had dedicated $604 million to the program.

Mark Warner campaigned in 2001 on not raising taxes at all as governor of Virginia, plus finishing the elimination of the PPTRA (car tax) altogether.  During his budgets of 2002, 2003, 2004, and  2005, the  Commonwealth's expenditures  increased $5.9 billion, while the 2005 budget only dedicated $907 million to the PPTRA.  This amounts to a paltry $303 million in annual additonal dedicated funds to eliminating the PPTRA, beyond Jim Gilmore's $604 million.

The following year in Tim Kaine's first budget of 2006, the General Assembly froze the PPTRA appropriations at $950 million annually, or what at that time was estimated to be a 70% elimination of the tax on the citizens.   FY 2007 saw the same appropriation, so in reality, and as per Vivian's wishes; the PPTRA is actually reducing as a percentage of eliminating the overall car tax.  What I hear her saying though, is she wants to dedicate some nice chunks of that PPTRA funding and dedicate it to Transportation.  Not just slowly bleed the tax cut.

Fair enough Vivian... Her favored candidate Governor Mark Warner should step up to the plate and tell us exactly what he would do right now if he were Governor Kaine.  Ask the General Assembly to defund the PPTRA, and put the funds towards transportation, or continue to increase funding to eliminate the PPTRA?  Simple Math tells us that if $950 million is 70%, then $1.3 billion annually gets us to elimination.

Please Governor Warner, tell us how you would handle this?  I am absolutely sure that AP reporter, Bob 'six billion dollar lie' Lewis is ready to pose this question to Governor Warner himself, at the upcoming US Senate debate at the Homestead in a couple weeks?

Actually, I doubt that altogether.  I think that the panelists will be tossing softballs at Warner, and continuing what has become a MSM mantra that Governor Gilmore left a budget 'Mess'...  You know, he cut taxes....

Vivian, I hope you press for Warner to answer your call for eliminating, or reducing the PPTRA.  You're not going to let him, or Governor Kaine just walk on the issue, right? 

To cut the citizens taxes to spur economic growth.  Here is an old Atlantic Article discussing just that.  For instance:

President Bush may have it exactly wrong. A bear market may be more likely to decrease, rather than to increase, public support for his $1.6 trillion tax cut. A surprising finding in this month's Gallup Poll indicates that the more worried people are about the nation's economy, the less they support President Bush's tax cut.

Whoops, guess that guy got it wrong huh?  The Bush Tax cuts spurred the economy on, but this is just typical negativism to encourage the citizens from voting to keep their own money in their pockets, vs. funding a bottomless pit that is our Federal and State Governments.

Speaking of State Governments, this article addressing Governor Gilmore and the Car Tax Cut:

In Virginia, Gov. James S. Gilmore III is standing firmly behind his commitment to abolish the car tax. He has to. It's the issue that got him elected in 1997. Not only that, but President Bush has made Gilmore chairman of the Republican National Committee. What an embarrassment it would be if the GOP national chairman agreed to compromise his signature tax cut or allow it to become tied to revenue triggers, as moderates in Congress are urging the President to do with his tax cut.

But Virginia does not have the revenues to replace the car tax. And state law requires a balanced budget. What an embarrassment it is for the Republican governor to be squabbling with the state Legislature, which Republicans took control of last year for the first time in more than 100 years. The Legislature has to go back into special session to consider controversial spending cuts in education and transportation. Nothing is more likely to enrage voters in Northern Virginia, which faces an intractable congestion crisis.

Seems our Transportation Crisis knows no ends... such as the war on poverty... Think that will ever be solved? One thing is for sure, if you are part of the MSM, you will get gallons of ink at your disposal to encourage the funding of Government Gone Wild... It's just so much more sexy, than letting the people keep their own money.

I look forward to the day when the people get to keep the vast majority of their earnings, and the government has to hold a bake sale to expand welfare programs, and pay Congressional Salaries... How much money would we save if Congress only met every other year, for like 60 day sessions to set the budget?  They could come in, get it done, shut their pie-holes, and go back to work as the Citizen Legislators they were supposed to be.

Congressman... nothing but a bunch of grandstanding, Presidential wannabes.... Come home and work for a living you bunch of bums!

If HB 6055 passes, the people who will pay for it are John McCain and Jim Gilmore in 08.  Bob McDonnell, Bill Bolling and Ken Cuccinelli in 09 - and any GOPers who get a primary challenge or lose their seat in the general election.  This bad governance bleeds the base of Conservatives and Libertarians.

Regional Government Reveals the Rot in the Republican Party

HB 6055 is the son of Frankenstein (HB 3202) that was ruled Un-Constitutional by the Virginia Supreme Court.  The arrogance of trying to stuff this bill and its Regional Government down the throats of voters – again – reveals much of what is wrong in the elected caucus of the Republican Party of Virginia.  The Regional Government scam reveals the rot of political corruption like a surgeon cutting away the sores to show the cancer.

HB 6055 puts billions of dollars in the hands of the Hampton Roads Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO)  The con the Republican bill HB 6055 is running skips putting the money in the Un-Constitutional Hampton Roads Transit Authority but shoves it at the MPO. The MPO, the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, and the Hampton Roads Transit Authority are the same people.  They meet at the same time.  The Republican shell game moves the new, higher taxes to the State Treasury in Richmond (as our Constitution requires) which dumps the money in a new holding account (professional thieves would use an off-shore bank), which sends the money to the MPO.

The MPO then manages the regional transportation projects for Hampton Roads/Tidewater.  Unfortunately, the HR MPO has been cited as one of the worst functioning (meaning operating contrary to public law) MPOs in the Nation.  The MPO is made up of appointed politicians representing the cities and counties and 4 big project advocacy representatives.  HB 6055 adds more politicians.

These appointed officials will spend more than $30b.  There is no oversight.  No checks and balances.  No separation of powers among the same body raising tolls, taking tolls, and spending tolls.  That is taxation without representation – again.

The decision on what to build was made back in 1997.  The construction of every project actually <b>INCREASES </b>congestion after completion.  HB 6055 adds improvements to the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel (HRBT), which would reduce congestion.  But the HRBT isn’t on the MPO list nor Is it established in funding priority in HB 6055.  It’s a fig leaf.

So, why do Republicans insist on creating the Regional Government in HB 6055 (the MPO now, not the HRTA) ?

It’s all about the money.  $30 to 35 billion is too much to pass up.

The appointed officials on the Regional Government aren’t engineers. They aren’t executives who have managed billion dollar programs for profit-earning corporations.  They bring absolutely no expertise – except how to spend other people's money on pet projects – to improve transportation.

So, the logic of HB 6055 is to give $35 billion dollars to politicians to hand out in contracts.  The Un-Constitutional HRTA has already spent $200k.  The first $50k went to Kaufmann and Canoles for legal services.   Republican State Senator Ken Stolle is a partner with Kaufmann and Canoles.  You can smell the rot even if you can’t see it yet.

Since the politicians of the MPO have no clue how to manage major engineering projects they will have to hire help.  This is where you can see the pus oozing.

These politicians will have hundreds of millions of dollars from year one to hire staff, rent offices or build them, hire transportation, more legal services, pay for meals, run executive off-sites, conduct ad campaigns to re-educate the public, put in the latest IT equipment, provide security, hire lobbyists, conduct environmental studies, and, above all, pay six figure salaries to retired and failed politician friends as ‘consultants’.

Eventually, huge contracts for the actual engineering will be awarded without accountability oversight or checks and balances or adjudication for disputes.  

The people who will make millions to billions in government contracts can afford to give tens of thousands of dollars to the politicians, or their friends or family or some other middle man.  But, the corruption will be done the genteel Virginia way.   No bags of money will change hands.   Just the right folks will get the contracts.  And there will be a lot of consultants – just the right folks again.

English-speaking People have built roads, ports, canals, bridges, ferries, railroads, airports, tunnels and subways in Virginia without Regional Governments for 400 years.

The People voted against Regional Governments with taxing authority in 1998.  

The People rejected Regional Government, the projects and the taxes like HB 6055 in 2002 over 2:1.  Polls indicate The People in Tidewater are against it about 3:1 today.

The Virginia Supreme Court ruled the Regional Government (HB 3202) Un-Constitutional in 2008.

There is no Constitutional, legal, technical, engineering, financial, moral, ethical or principled reason to have a Regional Government involved in building these big projects for HR/Tidewater.  None.

Yet, Republicans are going to try it again.  This pursuit of political power to control money and power is not a unique Republican condition.  It is the way of the world.  But, our Virginia Constitution is designed as a bulwark against such tyranny and thievery.  Our Constitution distributes powers, authority and accountability appropriately - with no Regional Governments.  However, it takes a vigilant public – and a press to do their duty to report news instead of shilling – to hold Virginia's politicians accountable.  

It can be done.  Ask my former Senator Marty Williams. It’s really a hard, painful, distasteful, disruptive fight within the Party.

The fact that this fight has to be fought within the Republican Party of Virginia exposes the source of the rot.  Only a few Republican politicians can be counted on to represent The People in Hampton Roads/Tidewater – and vote ‘No’ reflexively to HB 6055.  No to Regional Government because The People know it is a corrupt scam.  

Few Republicans will vote Conservatively on their own.  This is without mentioning the illogic and burden of new and higher local taxes, regressive taxes and taxes unrelated to transportation vs.  the Republican Creed of Virginia.  Or, the absence of project priorities to fund as you go.

Now, the elected Republicans will listen for voices to vote for HB 6055 and Regional Government  between now and 9 July.  Will they hear the special interests who will contribute thousands to politicians and gain millions in government spending or The People of Virginia?  It depends on who speaks up.

James Atticus Bowden

I agree completely with JAB, these regional govt. entities will rival the size of third world nations economies, and no doubt be governed as badly, with the exception of the genocide.

The good people of Danville deserve better than this kind of mentality that again shows the MSM has no problems regurgitating Mark Warner's six billion dollar lie:

 Warner cut $6 billion from the state budget before adding back $1.4 billion in new taxes that were supported by both Republicans and Democrats — including the Dan River Region’s GOP legislators.

So you're telling me that somehow between Gilmore's last budget in 2001 of $23,322,749,017, and Mark Warner's first budget of  2002, $23,483,212,825, and his second budget of 2003 of $24,982,910,876 he cut six billion dollars in spending?  There was a deficit created by Governor by Jim Gilmore?

You mean to say that he (Warner) wanted to increase spending by at least more than 15% annually, across the board no matter what?  I guess we should be glad there was a recession....  The more you feed government the more it requires more of the tax payers money to sustain.

Speaking of the taxpayers money, these Danville prophets go on to say:

Linkless posts are limp... back up your tripe.