Kaine Sees Transportation Package as a Win-Win

After blocking Kaine's efforts to raise taxes to build roads in 2006, Republicans in the General Assembly approved their own transportation plan last year after party leaders started worrying about big losses in the November 2007 state legislative elections.

Kaine signed the GOP plan, despite reservations from Senate Democrats. But the Virginia Supreme Court threw out the part of the plan that involved regional taxing authorities in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia because lawmakers had given taxing authority to an unelected body.

Now Kaine is back for another round of debate over resolving the state's transportation challenges, which the governor calls a major threat to economic growth, hurricane and terrorism evacuation plans, and highway safety.

Instead of just trying to address the court's concerns about the regional plans, an approach being pushed by Republicans, Kaine and Democratic leaders have decided to also try to tackle a $389 million shortfall in the part of the budget used to maintain roads.

But Kaine and Democrats are unable to agree on which taxes should be raised. In addition to the increase in sales taxes and registration fees, Kaine also wants to boost taxes assessed on the seller of a house, which would pay for public transportation projects.

"The real issue is, everything gets more expensive if we wait. The responsible thing is to act now," Kaine said Tuesday at a town hall meeting in Woodbridge.

Michael Thompson, president of the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy, a conservative-leaning think tank in Fairfax County, questioned why Kaine is pushing for a statewide tax increase when the Supreme Court ruling dealt with only regional taxing authorities.

"Everybody already bought into it. The pieces are already there, so why not just patch the problem?" asked Thompson, who said that the General Assembly should authorize a referendum on Kaine's proposal in the fall.

House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith (R-Salem) said Republicans, who are eager to salvage the regional plans but opposed to a statewide tax increase, think Kaine "is trying to set them up" for the 2009 election.

All 100 delegates are up for reelection next year. Voters will also choose a new governor.

"He is sacrificing good government for politics," Griffith said.

House Majority Leader Ward L. Armstrong (D-Henry) countered, saying that Kaine "always puts policy ahead of politics."