Sunday, February 14, 2010
McDonnell wanted to lead; now's the time
Dan Radmacher
Recent columns
- Heading back to the debate in Appalachia
- Redistricting process must be taken from pols
- A shutdown remains a very real possibility
- U.S. Navy Vets case argues for campaign limits
From the RoundTable blog
In Virginia, incoming governors face an oddity: The first budget they have to work with is the one left by the outgoing governor. That can be especially inconvenient when the new governor is of a different party and has different priorities than the person vacating the governor's mansion.
This year, it was a $1.9 billion inconvenience. Outgoing Gov. Tim Kaine had already slashed billions of dollars from the budget in the last couple of years. In his final budget, Kaine cut a couple billion more, then made up the rest of a $4.2 billion shortfall by eliminating the state's expensive car tax relief program and replacing it with a 1 percent surcharge to the state's income tax. The reviled car tax would be eliminated by funneling some of the $1.9 billion raised by the tax to localities.
Even before he took office, Gov. Bob McDonnell declared the idea dead on arrival, and the House of Delegates proved him right by killing the proposal almost immediately upon the start of the session last month.
But, nearly halfway through its 60-day session, the General Assembly is still waiting for McDonnell to say how he will fix the $1.9 billion shortfall created by his rejection of Kaine's tax increase.
Some Democrats are publicly raising a stink, correctly charging McDonnell with abdicating his responsibility to lead. Reports are that even some Republicans are complaining privately.
It is not that McDonnell is unaware of the ramification of his decisions. During his inaugural address, the new governor made it sound as if he had a plan to deal with the shortfall. In fact, he made it sound as if he welcomed the chance to reduce government reach and spending.
He said, "The circumstances of our time demand that we reconsider and restore the proper role of government. Without reform the continued growth of government threatens our very prosperity."
And he sounded like he knew just where to trim that growth: "We must properly fund the core priorities of government, but -- equally important -- we must utilize innovation, privatization and consolidations to deliver government services more effectively."
The time is now, governor, to let the General Assembly know what you consider the core priorities of state government and how you plan to fund them. It's time to let the General Assembly know exactly how you think government services can be delivered more effectively and exactly how to implement the steps to make that happen.
Finally, it is time to let local governments and school systems attempting to plan their budgets know how much additional pain they'll be subjected to in the budget that you foresee the General Assembly passing.
For a guy who ran a vigorous campaign, McDonnell has shown little enthusiasm for actually tackling Virginia's enormous problems.
During the campaign, McDonnell promised to make transportation his No. 1 priority. Even before he was sworn in, he was backing away from actually tackling the issue during this session. All he's accomplished so far is reopening some rest areas (by robbing the transportation reserve maintenance fund for the money, with no serious plan for funding their operation next year) and passing a bill to increase the speed limit -- which does nothing to improve Virginia's transportation system.
During the campaign, McDonnell said he had changed his mind about redistricting reform and now supported it. He didn't press the issue with his party's leaders in the House, though, and reform already appears dead there.
McDonnell also promised that if reform were blocked in the House, he would appoint his own bipartisan redistricting commission to draw maps he would submit.
That promise also appears to be faltering. Asked about redistricting recently, he had this to say: "I said during the course of the campaign that the concept of having more citizen input and making sure that citizens have a chance to look at the map and give input before lines are drawn is one that I support. Now what shape that takes is going to be up to the legislature how exactly to do that. So I've communicated with people in both houses already my support for concept ... and I hope to see some results this session."
In other words, don't hold your breath. He seems to have forgotten even what he promised -- which was a bipartisan method of redrawing districts and had little to do with citizen input.
McDonnell wanted this job, even knowing all the challenges he would face in office. He ran a great campaign to win the chance to sit in the governor's chair.
It's time to start governing.
Radmacher is the editorial page editor of The Roanoke Times.
