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A
Memo
to Kaine and Kilgore
I'm
sorry, gentlemen, but when it comes to addressing
Virginia's transportation needs, your platitudes
just won't cut it.
Memo
to Kaine and Kilgore
Re:
Transportation in Virginia
You
do not deserve to be governor of this state if you
cannot, or will not, articulate a solution to Virginia’s dire transportation needs.
You do not deserve to be governor of this
state if you cannot, or will not, articulate a
funding plan for this solution.
It is just that simple.
A
couple of weeks ago I put this matter to both of you
directly, through your respective staffs, and did so
in as non-partisan a way as I knew how.
What I got back from both of you was a load
of meaningless blather.
Said
Kilgore: “Virginia
has come a long way in developing innovative ways to
address the transportation problems we have,
particularly in
Northern Virginia
and Hampton Roads, by focusing on reforming
processes in VDOT and also using the Public Private
Partnership Act of 1995 to build roads better,
faster and cheaper.”
Said
Kaine, through his staff:
“Tim Kaine has two priorities when it comes
to improving Virginia’s transportation situation:
making our system more efficient and more
accountable. He
will continue the proven efficiency reforms now
underway and restore people’s confidence in
government by ensuring that dedicated transportation
money cannot be used for anything else.”
Ya’ll
been smoking crack? We’re
not building roads “better, faster, and
cheaper.” Get
a grip. We
are billions of dollars in the hole on this one —
particularly in
Northern Virginia
and Hampton Roads. No
amount of efficiency or accountability is going to
yield up the billions of new dollars we need. And,
please, spare us the cheap theatrics of implying
that the transportation fund is somehow being looted
wholesale. It
is not. There
have been "rob Peter to pay Paul" shifts
here and there, but nothing on any substantive
scale. We are
not "innovative."
We are a text book case in denial.
You
want innovation? Let
me tell you what would be innovative.
The
two of you should get together and find a position
on the transportation issue that you both can
support. Take
transportation out of the political equation.
That’s what bothers you most anyway — the
fear that one or the other of you will somehow get a
leg up politically. But
transportation in Virginia
should be above that.
There are no Democratic roads, no Republican
highways in this commonwealth.
Consider
issuing a joint communiqué on transportation.
Get together, agree on it, put it in writing,
sign it, and make it public.
Let there be no discernable difference
between you where transportation is concerned.
There are other areas where you can stake out
your differences.
One
problem that has always plagued any effort to
identify new transportation funding is that the
wrong folks somehow wind up beating the drum and
leading the parade. Just
this week, according to a Pamela Stallsmith piece in
the Richmond Times Dispatch, two more funding
advocates, in a long line of them, have stepped
forward and said, in effect, “Here am I.
Send me.”
But
that’s what the two of you should be doing!
According
to the RTD story, the Virginia Road
and Transportation Builders Association and the
Virginia Aggregates Association hope to raise $1
million for a grass roots awareness campaign.
Said
they in a joint letter:
“We must elevate the public’s
understanding about the dire need for substantially
increased, dedicated, sustainable revenues for
transportation construction and maintenance.”
But
that’s what the two of you should be saying!
Find
something else with which to distinguish your
differences. There
should be no substantive disagreements on the need
for a meaningful approach to Virginia’s transportation needs.
You can — and should — do this one
together.
-- August
23, 2004
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