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.

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, 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…

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.

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.