Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Editorial: Looking for leadership on transportation
Both candidates for governor dream of fixing roads without new revenue.
From the RoundTable blog
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Virginia voters trying to differentiate between this year's gubernatorial candidates must look at issues other than transportation. Both Democrat Creigh Deeds and Republican Bob McDonnell believe money will magically materialize to pay for roads, bridges, rail and other transportation needs.
Last week, both candidates spoke at Boys State in Lynchburg, and both said they would not seek new revenue for transportation.
Coming from McDonnell, that is no surprise. His fellow Republicans bear much of the blame for the current mess. Gov. Tim Kaine sought a workable transportation funding plan, but the House of Delegates' GOP majority preferred roadblocks.
McDonnell follows the party line. He would cut unidentified wasteful spending; audit the Virginia Department of Transportation, one of the most efficient departments in the state; pursue public-private partnerships; and encourage business growth to increase revenue.
The troubling thing is that candidate Deeds seems to buy into much of that fantasy. He insisted last week that growing the state's businesses is enough to fix its budget shortfalls. He said there is no need for new taxes.
So much for a serious discussion about transportation during the campaign. Both candidates are on the same page. It just happens to be a page from a work of fiction.
If a booming economy were all the commonwealth needed to have sufficient funds for transportation, then things would have been fine a few years ago. They weren't.
Even then, before the recession hit, Virginia knew its transportation system faced a massive funding hole, but too few lawmakers were willing to make the hard decisions.
A gas tax? Forget about it. That idea was barely broached in Richmond. Never mind that the tax has not increased in decades but inflation has driven costs inexorably higher.
The best lawmakers could muster was an unconstitutional regional approach that would have fragmented the state. Well, that and stupidly high penalties for moving violations. That one died in the face of public outrage.
The transportation problem has only gotten worse with the recession; it didn't begin with it. When the economy recovers, Virginia might be able to resume regular mowing of highway medians and reopen rest stops, but there still won't be enough money to invest in the large projects the state needs.
Anything more will have to wait as long as the Democrat running for governor sounds just like the Republican.
