Republicans 'Very Close' to Deal on Road Money

GOP Leaders Try to Persuade Holdouts to Agree to Increases in Taxes, Fees and Fines

RICHMOND, Jan. 16 -- As Republican lawmakers edged closer to announcing a deal on Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's signature promise to fix the state's transportation system, Kaine (D) met privately with Democrats on Tuesday and said he is "encouraged that there is a level of seriousness that wasn't there last year."

Senior GOP legislators huddled in hushed conversation as they sought to persuade their party colleagues to support the proposal, which would raise taxes and fees in Northern Virginia, impose stiff fines on bad drivers and launch a new round of borrowing to immediately build the state's most costly road projects.

Republican lawmakers involved in the talks declined to declare that an agreement had been reached, but they said they are "very close" to an announcement.

"It's a complicated set of issues. Everyone is trying to get it into the form where there is broad support," said Sen. William C. Wampler Jr. (R-Bristol).

Kenneth C. Klinge, a longtime lobbyist who served for years on the Commonwealth Transportation Board, quipped Tuesday that "everyone keeps saying the same thing: It looks close."

A deal would culminate a years-long civil war in Virginia's Republican Party over taxes. The GOP controls both houses of the legislature, but its members have been split over raising revenue to fund transportation projects. Several lawmakers said the compromise will be acceptable to the moderates in the Senate and the anti-tax conservatives in the House of Delegates.

But even before an announcement is made, rumored details about the proposals have begun generating opposition from a variety of political and corporate interests across the state.

Conservative lawmakers in the House, who have pledged never to raise taxes, appear to be the hardest sell for GOP leaders, who see the tax increases as a necessary evil to demonstrate action on transportation.

In a closed-door meeting with Hampton Road Republicans on Monday evening, House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford), who is backing the plan, exchanged angry words with two GOP lawmakers who refused to vote for the increases, according to several participants who were in the room. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was private.

"We won't vote for that," one GOP lawmaker told the speaker, according to a participant. "Yes, you will," the speaker responded.

Democrats, who are in the minority in both chambers, also made it clear this week that they will not simply vote blindly to approve whatever the Republicans agree to among themselves.

Several House Democrats from Northern Virginia said they are concerned that the Republican proposals will not generate enough money for mass transit projects. And some Senate Democrats said they are likely to oppose the plan because it relies too heavily on money that is traditionally reserved for schools, police and health care.