the new gov

[Lance 228]

what do you guys think of the new gov? I don't know much about him...

[WaveFan09 50]

voted for him lol

[bhs7695 185]

He doesn't have a clear cut way of fixing Virginia's budget problem yet, but neither candidate did. I liked the way McDonnell presented himself a lot more than Deeds and Deeds seemed to flip flop on some issues when pressed about it. Deeds was generally unclear on his plans for Virginia as well as a whole and had more of a history of spending than McDonnell. When you have that coupled with the unpopular bills that the Democratic White House is trying to cram down the throat of the American people, voters are likely to swing away from you.

 

Now, whether McDonnell can actually fix Virginia's problems remains to be seen. I voted for McDonnell.

[Lance 228]

is the guy just another run of the mill cookie cut republican? I didn't like Deeds at all...every time I saw the guy talking he looked like a used car salesman with a bad hairpiece and really didn't say anything....was disappointed this is the best the Dems could send up to bat....and Obama sure didn't do much to support him so that was a red flag for me....sometimes you can read a little between the lines when things "don't" happen.

 

I didn't see much out of McDonnell around here other than the TV ads which those are junk...so...from what I can tell either way it looked like the state ended at Va Tech with either of the guys running....and our end of the state is probably screwed.

[Deleted Account 5,203]

He doesn't have a clear cut way of fixing Virginia's budget problem yet, but neither candidate did. I liked the way McDonnell presented himself a lot more than Deeds and Deeds seemed to flip flop on some issues when pressed about it. Deeds was generally unclear on his plans for Virginia as well as a whole and had more of a history of spending than McDonnell. When you have that coupled with the unpopular bills that the Democratic White House is trying to cram down the throat of the American people, voters are likely to swing away from you.

 

Now, whether McDonnell can actually fix Virginia's problems remains to be seen. I voted for McDonnell.

 

Very good post. And I agree on most of it.

[bhs7695 185]

Well, whoever was going to win in Virginia was going to inherit a mess. Transportation funding is almost non existent right now. The construction industry has been hit hard in this recession and general construction doesn't look to rebound much for at least the next 12-24 months. The Obama Stimulus only has enough money for patch jobs to bridges and roads in Virginia. Tax revenues are down obviously.

 

I'm not sure how much is left in the "Rainy Day Fund" in Virginia. When Gilmore left office in January 2001, is was about $900 million and the state budget was $400-500 million in the hole. Then the economy turned. Warner used a portion of that $900 million for the state budget shortfall and wanted to implement two regional sales tax increases in Northern VA and Tidewater to fund transportation while restructuring the Virginia Tax Code. Those were both shot down in '02 and the transportation funding continued to suffer. Kain won riding on the coat tails of his predecessor and I think the "Rainy Day Fund" was down to about $600 million when he took office. Kain's administration greatly overestimated the taxes that were going to be brought in over the last two years and they spent based on what they thought they would bring in. Add to that Kain basically quit his job 12-14 months ago when he became close buds with Obama. Virginia's budget is even worse shape. Not as bad as California though.

 

Like I said, it remains to be seen if McDonnell can fix Virginia's problems, but at least he didn't run off at the mouth and make zero sense when he spoke like the way Deeds did.

Edited November 5, 2009 by bhs7695

[mighty_owls 10]

From everything I've read, McDonnel is anything but a cookie cutter republican in todays sense of the word republican anyway. He's basically Conservative, Pro Gun, Pro Military (Not Pro WAR people) and against money to illegal immigrants, I Voted for Him.

[bhs7695 185]

Governor McDonnell is making good on his campaign promise to reopen Virginia rest areas and raise the speed limit in areas on Virginia interstates.

 

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/01/virginia-to-reopen-19-rest-stops-closed-to-save-money/1

 

Fulfilling a top campaign pledge of the state's new Republican governor, Virginia's transportation authority has voted to reopen 19 Interstate rest stops closed last year to save $9 million and help bridge a $4.2 billion deficit.

 

Gov. Bob McDonnell, who was sworn in Saturday to replace Democrat Tim Kaine, told the Commonwealth Transportation Board that "inmate labor and private contributions would help manage the costs of reopening the rest stops," the Associated Press writes.

 

In an address to lawmakers Monday night, McDonnell reiterated another top campaign promise: raise the speed limit to 70 mph in sparsely populated areas along I-95, I-64, I-81 and I-77.

 

"We think we can get traffic moving a little quicker in the more sparsely populated areas of Virginia ... and do it in a way that's safe for motorists, works for law enforcement, but makes sense," a McDonnell spokesman told WTVR.

 

Update at 4:10 p.m. ET: The Hampton Roads Pilot reports that the state "will use $3 million in emergency maintenance reserve funds to pay for rest area operations for the remaining 5 1/2 months of the fiscal year. Officials estimate it will cost more than $7 million to operate them next year, though they haven't determined where they'll find those funds in the state highway department budget."

 

The reopenings will be phased in from mid-February through mid-April.

[Hacker 82]

Big challenges ahead for him. It will interesting to see what he pull off during the session. I thought the speech Monday, was masterful politics. Talk about spending money to create jobs, needed and beneficial, but not where the funds were coming from.

 

From my 25 years working with politicians I no two things are true: Politicians have yet to meet a surplus they won't spend; and once put in place a program, no matter trivial, is essential and can not be cut. Simply put, the politicians create the program, and then lack the "testicular fortitude" to cut it.