Transportation and the Governor

People in Northern Virginia and the Tidewater who elected Democrats to the state legislature with the thought that switching party control would facilitate solutions to their pressing problems have been mightily fooled. According to the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/24/AR2008012403137.html) Governor Kaine thought he could kill a transportation bill in the legislature last year and when a House and Senate compromise surprised him, he signed the bill reluctantly after inserting what he thought would be a poison pill, abusive drive fees. He was right about the poison as all Democrats harped on the fees and were successful in taking the Senate. What an embarrassment for new Senate Majority Leader and Northern Virginian, Dick Saslaw. Not only did the Governor not intend to find any transportation fixes for the area, he even planned to take money out of the transportation fund to pay for his own pet projects. This is all complicated by the threat of recession and the certain economic slow down, which will produce much less revenue than Kaine needs for his proposed budget. "The stakes for Kaine are high because his budget has new money for many of his priorities, including education [universal pre-K], public health and the environment. Kaine wants to keep his budget balanced by diverting $261 million, the most allowed under the law, from the state's reserve fund and borrowing $180 million from a fund used to pay for highway construction." Now the Fed says the proposed rail line to Dulles Airport will probably not get federal funding because the cost is to high and the management structure is unworthy and unworkable. So, the only thing that will change with the new management team is that everyone's taxes will go up and, as has happened for the last 8 years in Fairfax County, the quality and quantity of services will go down.