Woe to GOP for Transportation Stalemate, Kaine Says

Kaine said it took the defeat of then-U.S. Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) in 2006 to persuade state House and Senate Republicans to agree on a transportation plan last year. The Virginia Supreme Court ruled parts of that plan unconstitutional, leading to the special session.

House Majority Whip M. Kirkland Cox (R-Colonial Heights) said House Republicans won't back down on the tax issue. "Tim Kaine defines solutions by tax increases," Cox said. "Bringing back a tax increase in January is a dead issue."

If a bill is not approved early next year, Kaine predicted, voters would respond in November 2009, when Virginians elect a new governor and all 100 members of the House.

As he proved last year, when Democrats won a state Senate majority, Kaine can be effective in boosting the state party.

Kaine has kept his political action committee, Moving Virginia Forward, operational even though he cannot seek reelection. The PAC doesn't have to release a detailed fundraising report until next week. But Kaine collected $100,000 from a Radford businessman in April and received at least 18 other donations of $10,000 or more since January, according to the State Board of Elections.

State Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell, the likely Republican candidate for governor next year, said Kaine and Democrats have made a major miscalculation if they think voters will blame the GOP for the state's transportation woes.

"We have had seven years of Democratic governors, and the only plan that passed is the Republican plan that I helped pass last year," McDonnell said.

Kaine said he is optimistic that Democrats next year can pick up the six seats needed to gain a House majority, but only a handful of Republicans, in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, represent competitive districts. And one of those Republicans, Thomas Davis Rust (Fairfax), voted with the Democrats in support of a statewide tax increase.

In the rest of the state, Republicans are confident that they have the upper hand in the tax debate. "Basically, Kaine is the high-tax governor against legislators who are protecting the taxpayers, and I am willing to fight that fight," Cox said.