House Letter: Va. Last to Use Stimulus Cash for Highways

In a scathing letter to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, the chairman of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said no state has been slower than Virginia in putting federal highway stimulus cash to use.

As of Aug. 31, construction had begun on only 16.5 percent of the $695 million Virginia received for statewide and local highway and bridge projects under President Barack Obama's stimulus initiative, said the letter from U.S. Rep. James L. Oberstar, D-Minn.

Nationally, nearly 43 percent of the billions of dollars a Democratic Congress approved for highway revitalization is already under construction, according to a footnote on the bluntly worded two-page letter to Kaine, Obama's hand-picked Democratic National Committee chairman.

Oberstar said that in August, he mailed laggard states urging them to put the federal funds to work immediately. Since then, he wrote, many states have done that "to create and sustain family-wage jobs" to help push the nation through the worst recession since the 1930s.

"Regrettably, Virginia is not among these states," Oberstar wrote. For emphasis, he wrote the paragraph in bold, italicized type, then underscored these words: "your state ranks last among all states (51 out of 51), based on an analysis of the percentage of Recovery Act highway formula funds put out to bid, under contract and under way." Oberstar provides even more unfavorable comparisons in a footnote:

--Only 43 percent of Virginia's highway stimulus money had been put out for bids compared with a national rate of 65 percent.

--Nineteen percent of Virginia's stimulus cash was under contract compared to 49 percent nationally.

In a two-page response to Oberstar that was released Friday night, Kaine noted a $4.6 billion decrease in Virginia transportation revenue the past two years. Because of that, he wrote, the state lacked a "wish list" of projects ready to go.

"Unlike a number of other states, Virginia has not simply substituted (stimulus) funds into existing projects," he wrote. Kaine said Virginia opened the process to public comment in selecting its highway, rail and transit projects.

Kaine's letter says the state has met federal requirements for obligating and reporting its highway stimulus cash. By the middle of last month, he wrote, the U.S. Department of Transportation ranked Virginia in the midrange of states for obligating stimulus cash to projects. By the end of September, he said, Virginia had 93 approved highway stimulus projects worth $389 million.

"While Virginia might appear to fall behind other states according to the (Transportation) committee's calculations, we assure you the commonwealth is implementing (stimulus) funds according to the intent of the legislation by creating new jobs with accountability and transparency," Kaine wrote.

Oberstar's letter coincided with Friday's report that an additional 263,000 jobs vanished in September, boosting the national unemployment rate from 9.7 percent to 9.8 percent, a figure Obama lamented as a "sobering reminder" of the poor economy.

It also gave Republicans fresh ammunition in a rancorous election year battle to win back the governor's office after eight years of Democratic control under Kaine and his predecessor, U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner.

Barred by Virginia's unique prohibition against governors seeking re-election, Kaine is using his post as DNC chairman to aid Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey governor's races, the only statewide elections this fall.

"I would be lying to say that I am surprised because DNC chairman Kaine has spent more of his time caring more about his national political party than he has his affairs here in the commonwealth," said Tim Murtaugh, spokesman for the Republican Party of Virginia.