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Off The Reservation
By Greg L | 12 March 2007 | Virginia Politics, Prince William County | 8 Comments
While Governor “Gridlock” Kaine is running around the commonwealth looking for political cover from counties and municipalities in order to allow him to sabotage the General Assembly’s transportation compromise, local elected officials have been dutifully giving the Governor everything he might want. Consider the following statements from elected officials in Prince William County in regards to a hike in the gas tax, an idea which has been soundly rejected by voters in the past, and see if you can figure out who made them:
If we’re willing to use the General Fund then the legislature should at least consider a statewide gas tax.
And this:
How would I solve it? I would place a 5-percent sales tax on the wholesale price of gasoline and diesel fuel. I would place a 4-percent tax on hotel and motel rentals statewide. This may fall somewhat short of solving the problem, but out-of-state vehicles would pay their fair share and the citizens would understand how the revenue is generated.
Any ideas? Well, the first statement is from Prince William County Board Chairman Corey Stewart. The second is from Senator Chuck Colgan (D-29). Although Stewart seems to be on-board with Colgan’s habitual cries to raise taxes, Bob Fitzsimmonds probably doesn’t need to be concerned that Stewart’s endorsement of his candidacy might be in jeopardy.
Fortunately Prince William County isn’t devoid of principled voices advocating fiscal restraint on a government that already collects more in taxpayer revenues than it is legally allowed to spend. Delegate Scott Lingamfelter is just one of these voices, and his recent press release on this subject pretty well slaps down the inane notions that seem to have thoroughly polluted Chuck Colgan’s mind, and appear to be in danger of inflicting themselves upon Corey Stewart:
“The General Assembly has only recently passed a compromise transportation package that will meet our needs for transportation in the coming years. While the package is not perfect, it represents the best hope Virginians have to unlock the gridlock”, Lingamfelter said.
Lingamfelter made this statement following a call by the Chairman of the Prince William Board of Supervisors to raise gas taxes as opposed to the plan the General Assembly has passed that would give localities the option of approving local revenues that would remain in Prince William, by-passing the state funding formula. Fauquier is not included in the regional provision. Lingamfelter stated, “The regional plan is optional. It is not required. If the Board of Supervisors feels they don’t need it, they don’t even have to take a vote. They can simply not take it up. A vote is required only if they want to avail themselves of this option.”
Lingamfelter noted that it is highly unlikely that the General Assembly would accept a gas tax amendment by the Governor. “I think we would be open to technical amendments, but a gas tax is a dead letter”, Lingamfelter said.
“At a time when gas prices are on the rise and families are getting ready to pay state and federal taxes in April and May, a gas tax hike would be the last thing they would need to confront”, he concluded.
I spoke with Delegate Jackson Miller about this as well, and he absolutely agrees with Scott Lingamfelter. “The Governor doesn’t have a transportation plan — he’s running around the state trying to find one” he told me. “When was the last time you saw a Governor running around the state looking for local input on legislation after it’s been passed by the General Assembly? I don’t think it’s ever been done before. This clearly is Kaine looking for excuses because he never expected the General Assembly to succeed in passing a transportation plan. He didn’t have a plan before, and he doesn’t have one now.”
If courtesy of Stewart and Colgan, as well as the expected hue and cry of elected officials from more liberal areas of Northern Virginia, Governor Gridlock comes out with another massive tax hike as an alternative to the careful compromise that’s been reached, we certainly will have good reason to confront and defeat his agenda in the future. Part of that effort may well involve getting local elected officials to stop “playing Rambo” on public policy issues and start coordinating their efforts more effectively with the county delegation to the General Assembly, though. It’s going to take better teamwork, along the lines of the masterful performance by Speaker Howell this session, in order to impose fiscal discipline on Virginia. Local elected officials need to get on that team.
UPDATE: The AP is reporting that Kaine isn’t going to propose a gas tax increase:
Kaine says he’s going to offer substantial amendments to the bill by his March 26 deadline. But he said adding large new statewide taxes — particularly a boost in the 17 1/2-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax — is pointless because it would face certain rejection in the House of Delegates.
Is Stewart’s gas tax hike idea too much for even Governor Kaine? That’s right up there with “Ouch, Mr. Speaker“.
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I agree that the Governor doesn’t have a plan and quite frankly he is an embarassment. I’m appalled that a Governor would sit on the sidelines of the most pressing issue our state has until the bitter end. He should have done much more earlier in the process and could have helped craft a better plan than what is currently being offered.
That being said, this plan exemplifies the gutlessnes of the legislature. This plan forces local supervisors to pass taxes and pay for local road projects; a plan that will likely never be implemented at the local level. The state should be raising revenue to pay for their plan and not punting to the local officials. Under this plan, those of us who live in NOVA will end up paying more than we would have if this were a statewide plan.
And I really don’t understand the beef people have with raising the gas tax to pay for roads. It is a user fee and a significant amount will be raised by people who use our roads but don’t live here.
If you believe that there is enough revenue to pay for the projects we need to keep our economy going than that money should be identified and put to use. I have yet to see a plan to do this from either Ligamfelter, Miller or Frederick. These guys are all talk and no action. Anyone who believes, as Ligamfelter does, that this plan will cover projects for the coming years is smoking something groovy. We’re talking billions of dollars for many years just to catch up with the growth we’ve experienced over the last ten. No one in Richmond thinks strategically; its all about protecting themselves for the next election.
As for as Howell’s masterful performance; only 1 person on the compromise team was from NOVA. Is that the kind of representation from NOVA you want Greg to solve a problem that is primarily based here? He stacked the deck to get a plan that would satisfy everyone but NOVA members. Howell is not a leader, he is a carnival magician using slight of hand to dupe the electorate.
Matt,
The GOP leadership took a look at the Governor’s plans and killed them. The GOP had to keep their caucus together as much as possible, and since they had the votes, they could keep the Dems out of the negotiations. Ed Gillespie’s talking points are getting out of hand.
Did I mention the Democrats? No. I would have been happy to have Republican reps from NOVA; anyone who could speak on our behalf. This isn’t a R vs. D issue; we’re all in this together but Howell is content to keep this an upstate vs. downstate issue for as long as possible and he has been successful in pitting our regions against each other. Instead of being a leader he has chosen to be divisive.
[…] think Delegate Jackson Miller offers a more accurate explanation. He comments at BVBL: “The Governor doesn’t have a transportation plan — he’s running around the state trying […]
Of course they did.
I, for one, missed the plan the democrats submitted…could you or anyone supply the legislation number (for it to be killed, it had to be submitted) so I can take a gander at what the democrats and the governor had in mind…
Lingamfelter is no better than Stewart. And in fact, he may be worse. Lingamfelter actually voted to raise our taxes. (Oh, he can be all namby-pamby and call them “fees” until the cows come home, but we all know what they really are - taxes.)
If we were going to raise ANY taxes, it should have been a gas tax. It was of course politically impossible, which is the downside of no-tax pledges. We should have cut the sales tax, raised the gas tax, and not played with all the weird fees.
That way we wouldn’t be “raiding the general fund”, we would simply have cut taxes going into the general fund, while raising taxes going into the transportation fund.
The gas tax has not kept up with inflation. Meaning if the cost of building roads had gone up only by the rate of inflation, we’d not be able to keep up — and they’ve gone up faster.
People are using more roads, but not more gas. Gas costs 3 times as much, but the gas tax is the same per gallon, so people buy less gas and we collect fewer taxes but the roads still need to be built and maintained.
I actually agree with raising the gas tax - that way those driving on the roads are paying for them.
But *I* didn’t lie to my constituents and sign a no-tax pledge. Which is worse the candidate who refuses to sign the pledge or one who eagerly signs and then raises your taxes anyway? The latter candidate has now been proven to be a liar. And that label fits Lingamfelter. He can write obfuscating letters all day long and have the support of “real” republicans like Young, Daugherty, Fitzsimmonds and Marshall, but the fact remains - he is a LIAR.