Bacon's Rebellion

Kaine Back-Pedals on Land Use Reform

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by

James A. Bacon
in

Road to Ruin reporter Bob Burke has been digging into Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s apparent abandonment of the land use legislation he championed during the fall gubernatorial campaign. He confirms the account provided by Del. Robert Marshall, R-Manassas, and columnist Patrick McSweeney.

Bob did get a response from Kaine spokesman Kevin Hall. Hall’s response: Kaine still backs the measure but regards it as “part of a more comprehensive transportation package. … We are probably more in a posture of [trying to] fight the battles we have a reasonable chance of winning.”

In other words, Kaine is putting all his muscle behind the $1 billion-a-year tax increase — a tax increase he never mentioned during the campaign.

Still unresolved: Whether the Governor caved into pressure from the home builder/real estate interests.

Read Bob’s story here.

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8 responses to “Kaine Back-Pedals on Land Use Reform”

  1. Tom James (aka Brave Hart) Avatar
    Tom James (aka Brave Hart)

    3 months does not make a 4 year term.

  2. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    In all fairness, ladies, there is a difference between breaking a promise and simply ending the pain of beating your head against the wall. Persistence is futile. Both the House and the Senate have been defeating “adequate public facility” laws in various forms for years and years. In the key House committee it rarely gets more than three or four affirmative votes.

  3. Shaun Kenney Avatar
    Shaun Kenney

    Backpedals, Jim!

    🙂

  4. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    I wrote to the governor and told him I wold be furious if he caved in to special interests in this way. It is wrong.

  5. Jim Bacon Avatar
    Jim Bacon

    Thanks, Shaun. 30 years as a journalist and editor, and I still need a proof reader!

  6. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    http://www.leesburg2day.com has an article about it too. Gov is caving.

    Sad.

  7. James Young Avatar
    James Young

    Not to seem petty, Jim, and I wouldn’t pretend to have done all the work that Bob did (nice article, BTW), but I had a post on my blog about this on 1 March. Credit where credit is due seems appropriate.

  8. Jim Bacon Avatar
    Jim Bacon

    Hi, Jim, No you’re not being petty — you just missed an earlier post where I credited Skeptical Observor for breaking the story. I’m just back from vacation and wading through 500+ e-mails, so my memory is a bit fuzzy as to which post. Perhaps the credit showed up on the Road to Ruin.

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