Kaine Decries Cuts to Programs
Va. Governor Says Taxes, Not Trims, Should Fund Roads

By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 21, 2006

RICHMOND, Feb. 20 -- Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) criticized House Republicans on Monday for offering a budget that he said fails to provide enough money for transportation improvements while cutting funds for education and health programs.

Speaking on Presidents' Day while the legislature churned along, Kaine told reporters that a final deal on a transportation package must be larger than what House Republicans proposed.

"I don't think it produces enough dollars that are reliable and long-term to meet the magnitude of the transportation challenge we have," Kaine said of the House budget, which was approved Sunday by the Appropriations Committee.

The governor said the House committee's refusal to consider tax increases for road and transit spending led it to cut "really good, important programs" in the state's operating budget.

"You just have to look at things like school breakfast programs, school efficiency reviews," Kaine said. "Drinking water funds for southwest Virginia. These are necessary programs."

House leaders rejected Kaine's comments about their spending proposals. They said their transportation plan would pay special attention to Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, places where traffic congestion is acute, while helping other regions.

"By prioritizing state spending in the budget, House Republicans are able to make real progress," House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) said. "We refuse to take the easy way out and send out a blank check to maintain business as usual."

The House and Senate must work out a final spending plan and approve the budget before the session ends March 11.

Howell called the House spending plan a "balanced, well-constructed state budget," saying it invests in "core services like public education, our colleges and universities, mental health, the transportation system, the environment and so much more."

What it does not invest in are many of the programs championed by former governor Mark R. Warner (D). The budget under consideration in the General Assembly was drawn up by Warner as he prepared to leave office. House Republicans accepted several major Warner initiatives, such as funding for Chesapeake Bay cleanup and a revamping of the state's mental health system.

But they cut spending for many of the smaller programs that Warner had started, including many he is using as evidence of his success in what could become a bid for the presidency.

The GOP eliminated $409,000 for a Warner program that uses NASCAR imagery to encourage adults to finish high school. They deleted $4.37 million to help poor youths pay for Advanced Placement tests. They cut $143,000 for Warner's program to train principals to be "turn-around specialists" in troubled schools. And they cut $6 million that would have paid for bonuses to encourage teachers to work in difficult schools.

They cut $12 million for a fire department program that matches state money with federal funds and cut $6.7 million for a project Warner backed to encourage creation of electronic health records.

A $950,000 Warner initiative to transform unused rail lines into a system of trails was cut, as was $9.5 million for a fund Kaine could have used to encourage economic development. A Warner proposal to create an early-childhood foundation was trimmed by $6.6 million.

"The House committee appears to have taken special delight in applying a scalpel to some innovative, cutting-edge initiatives started by the Warner administration," said Kaine spokesman Kevin Hall, who worked for Warner for four years.

Howell and other senior Republicans in the House said there was no effort to target Warner's programs. They said they cut programs that did not have a proven record of success. "We took some judicious looks at these programs," said Del. Phillip A. Hamilton (R-Newport News), a senior member of the Appropriations Committee.

House Republicans said, for example, that they were not convinced that the bonuses for hard-to-staff schools worked. And they noted that there is a balance of $13 million in the fund Kaine can use for economic development.

Del. Brian J. Moran (D-Alexandria), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said that several of Warner's programs were stripped "not because of objective analysis but merely [because of] a political reaction."

But Jeff Ryer, a top aide to Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith (R-Salem), bristled at that. " 'Stripped out' is such a harsh word," he said. "Why not say 'redirected'?"

Staff writer Chris L. Jenkins contributed to this report.