From the Democratic Party of Virginia:

RICHMOND- Good evening, I’m David Toscano, the Democratic Leader in the Virginia House of Delegates. It is a pleasure to be with you tonight to discuss our future as Virginians and as a Commonwealth.

Each year the first day of our legislative session is a chance to reflect on why the people of Virginia send us to Richmond to represent them.

They send us here, to Mr. Jefferson’s Capitol, to make laws to protect the citizens of the Commonwealth and keep the playing field level for every Virginian.

They send us here to solve problems and meet the challenges that threaten to diminish our quality of life.

They send us here to make investments that promote economic growth, that fuel the engines of job creation and prepare the next generation of Virginians to compete in the global economy.

They send us here to work together to get things done.

And so, as we prepare to begin another session of the General Assembly, it’s important to ask: how we can do a better job for the Virginians who we represent.

Our Commonwealth is now emerging from a very challenging recession, but too many Virginians still struggle to provide for their families and their future.

We need to create prosperity for all Virginians, and Democrats are committed to enacting the initiatives to unleash a new chapter of economic growth in every corner of this Commonwealth.

In his inaugural address and again this evening, Governor McDonnell spoke about his desire to build a “Commonwealth of Opportunity,” –an important goal. He has suggested time and time again that we be laser-focused on the economy and stay away from the social issues that divide us.

We Democrats agree.

Yet, when you look at the last several years, we sometimes wonder if our colleagues on the other side of the aisle are listening.

Last year, Virginia’s legislature became known for the fodder we provided to late night talk shows as the Republican majority passed several bills that injected government between a women and her doctor.

We cannot afford another session like last year, or we will see Virginia’s ability to compete with other states decline. In 2012 Virginia lost its ranking as the best state in the country to do business because we neglected issues like roads and schools in favor of social issues.

It’s time to focus on what’s important.

What do we need to do to create a Commonwealth of Opportunity, and build an economy that works for all Virginians?

To build our economy we need to do 3 things.

We need to invest in education

We need to invest in our people

We need to invest in transportation

First, education.

We cannot have a 21st century economy without a 21st century educational system – from K-12 to colleges and universities. And recently, we have been neglecting both.

In 2009 Virginia was the 7th wealthiest state in the nation. But in that same year, we ranked 38th in the amount spent on our students and 31st in teacher salaries. We spend less per student today than we did in 2008.

Business demands a workforce prepared for the future. Every child in Virginia — rich or poor, urban or rural — deserves an education that gives them the skills they need to compete in an increasingly global economy.

During the last several years, the unfortunate response to our educational challenges from some of our Republican colleagues  is propose further cuts in K-12 funding – while providing more resources to private schools.

In the Democratic view, that is the wrong way to go. Every investment in education is a downpayment on a growing economy.

The second thing we need to do to build our economy is to invest in our people. That is why we are ready to work with the Governor and our Republican colleagues to extend health benefits to 400,000 Virginians. A recent study concluded that Medicaid expansion will save taxpayers money, reduce stress on emergency rooms, and create more than 30,000 new jobs. This is precisely the kind of smart investment that Virginians expect us to make.

And finally, building our economy means investing in transportation.

Enhancing our transportation network will bring more commerce to Virginia and improve our quality of life. This creates jobs – and does so quickly.

This starts with protecting the assets we have. We need to put sufficient funds into maintaining our roads and bridges. We need to keep our ports – one of our greatest assets – under the control of Virginians.

But we have needs beyond maintenance. Pure and simple, we need more revenue.

As our transportation infrastructure ages, the costs of maintenance is consuming funds that should go to building new roads, bridges and rail lines. Unless we address this key issue, Virginia will shortly be without sufficient money to build the roads and bridges that we need in order to compete.

The failure to invest in our transportation network is making it harder for businesses to get their products to market. It’s making it harder for commuters to get to work. And it’s making it harder for Virginians to go about their daily activities like taking their kids to school. It costs us money, saps our productivity and decreases the quality of life of all Virginians.

That’s why tonight the Democratic legislators of the Virginia General Assembly have a simple message for Governor McDonnell and the majority party: Virginian’s can’t afford to wait any longer.

There are several innovative ideas for addressing the crisis in transportation, including one recently proposed by the Governor.

Now is the time to roll up our sleeves and make real, long-lasting investments that do not saddle future generations with debt and do not take money from other critical needs.

Great states don’t just happen. They are the product of decisions – large and small. Over the last several decades, Virginia became the state it is today because its leaders were willing to put partisanship aside for the common good.

As the Democratic leader of the House of Delegates, I am hopeful that Virginians can take Governor McDonnell and Republicans at their word that this year’s session will be devoted to common sense solutions to our problems. We cannot move forward with crumbling and congested roads, overcrowded and underfunded schools and a system in which too many families are without basic necessities like health insurance.

Democrats are ready to work together with the Governor and our Republican colleagues to fix our transportation crisis, improve our schools and expand access to health insurance to more Virginia families.

Thank you for listening this evening. Goodnight and God Bless the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Disturbing. Also outrageous, pathetic, etc.

Didn’t “Bobby” (as Pat Robertson calls him) McDonnell say something very similar to this in his infamous “thesis,” which he wrote while studying at Pat Robertson’s law school? Birds of a feather and all that…

NOTE: This column should be read with the 1965 song “Do You Believe in Magic?” playing in the background for those over 60. It was recorded by The Lovin’ Spoonful group. For younger readers, let me suggest the Dire Straits mega hit “Money for Nothing [and your chicks for free]”, the Grammy winner in 1985.

by Paul Goldman

If Governor McDonnell had his own band, it would be entitled “My Way Or No Highway.” The country group “Highway 101” had some great hits in the 1980’s, although you really can’t beat Bob Dylan’s classic “Highway 61.”

But Governor McD has these legends of country and folk music beat badly where the rubber meets the road. They struggled to get 2 and one-half minutes of lyrics. He has a seemingly endless supply of magical words on the subject, “feel good” highway traveling music. No need to switch the CD if stuck in traffic: his band has an endless sheet of the same ole song.

His latest abracadabra: A plan that defines the 2013 General Assembly Session, indeed the 2013 race for governor.

After three years of claiming he could solve the state’s transportation issues of maintenance and new construction with free magic dust: privatization of the ABC stores, royalties from off-shore drilling, discounting future revenue streams by turning them into current debt, toll booths along the North Carolina border, and using tomorrow’s bond authority today – Governor McD appears to finally have conceded the self-evident to all who aren’t blind to reality. Yet behind the great album cover, there is the same beat to the same lyrics.

As usual, the usual suspects have had their usual reaction to McD’s latest fairy dust. Speaking for Democrats in the House, Delegate Vivian Watts says we need a billion dollars more: and so we need to raise taxes by another billion bucks. Speaking for Democrats in the Senate, Richard Saslaw says what he always says: we need to do a lot more, he wants to raise the sales tax by 1%, split it between transportation and education. Plus, they want to keep the gas tax and all the other fees and whatever.

It is the battle of the bands: and by now, it is just noise. They know this can’t happen in 2013 anymore than it could have happened in 2003 when a Democrat was in the Governor’s Mansion and 2008 when a Democrat was in the Governor’s Mansion.

At some point, is it not fair – indeed obligatory – to ask: What about the art of the possible, what about figuring out what can be done, on the theory that even the longest journey begins with the first step?

In that regard: Without realizing it quite yet, Governor McDonnell has basically handed the governorship to the Democrats if they have the courage of their convictions. Let me explain.

As Professor Sabato likes to say, Governor McD has been “too clever by half.” The guts of his plan, if properly understood, is simple: he wants to turn the monies collected from any internet sales tax into basically a funding source for transportation. He also wants to turn the existing sales tax from being primarily aimed at funding education at the state and local levels to a double purpose: funding transportation and also education.

All the other stuff – registration fees, fees on alternative vehicles, keeping the gas tax on diesel fuel, etc – is part of a magician’s misdirection, keeping the audience focused in a way so they miss the basis of the “trick.”

But getting his hands on the Internet Tax Money is the real meat and potatoes of his latest plan to fund transportation with “free” – as in no tax increase – cash money.

FACT: McD realizes he is going to have to negotiate down some of the parts of his “plan” to have any chance of passage. He wrote it that way. The key is this: Over time, more and more sales are going to be made over the Internet.

Look at how McD proposes to allocate those sales tax dollars: The bulk go to transportation, a small part to education!. A further truth: If you read the studies of the Internet Sales Tax, the experts are all over the place on how much it would actually raise TODAY in one state or another, how much it will raise IN FIVE YEARS in any particular jurisdiction, you get the drift.

McD’s plan assumes a rough five-year average of $300 million. That could be high, it could be low, it all depends on your assumptions. BUT WHATEVER THE REAL NUMBER RIGHT NOW, over time, more and more sales tax dollars are going to be generated by Internet Sales, whether from virtual stores, catalogs, etc. McD KNOWS THIS: The day when you could buy stuff over the Internet, and avoid paying the sales tax legally owed right now, is coming to an end.

That’s right: You owe the tax today, you owed it yesterday, because it is a Sales and Use Tax, the operative word being USE. If a Virginian buys a computer over the internet from anywhere, and he or she intends to use it in Virginia, the tax is owed right here, right now. That the seller doesn’t have to collect it is an entirely different legal matter.

Accordingly, the Internet Sales Tax legislation being championed by Governor’s around the country – and likely to be passed by Congress – is to collect taxes already owed.

That means it is tax money that should have been going to education and mental health, etc. all along. Why is this so important to McD? Because it is therefore NOT A TAX INCREASE. This is why so many Republican governors are backing it.

It is precisely the revenue stream he and his party have been looking at: Huge potential dollars that they can add to the pot WITHOUT BEING CALLED TAX RAISERS. Plus, they have their small business base all for it as a matter of leveling the playing field with Amazon, etc., the same for WalMart and the big business players.

THUS: The true political purpose of the McD plan is get the Democrats to let him use this new, and potentially very big pot of new, non-tax increase money for transportation as opposed to education. It is that basic.

But in going after this pot of money, McD has inadvertently given education reformers an opening like they have not had since Doug Wilder did the right thing and turned the lottery – originally planned by Governor Baliles as a special stream of cash to build new buildings – into a funding stream for education (that was the idea in putting the money into the general fund).

McD has now said: Republicans in Congress have told him they understand the need to create a level playing field, that it will create real problems if federal law continues to make it impossible to enforce collection of sales tax already owed.

So, McD wants this 2013 legislative session to turn the fastest growing part of the Sales and Use Tax into primarily a funding source for transportation, when this tax was conceived as the primary source for education funding.

That’s the real deal behind his magic dust of all that “free” new money headed our way.

Democrats have to appreciate the stakes here. McD has laid down the gauntlet: he has chosen Transportation over Education.

This is why I have been saying for several years now that what Virginia needs in 2013, and what it will vote for in 2013, is a pro-education governor, the first we have had since probably Chuck Robb in 1981 in terms of basic funding commitments.

Transportation vs education. Like it or not, transportation policy has to include user fees to some considerable degree. This is the right policy, although the precise mix needs to be discussed, the old equation may not work today given new realities.

However: Just throwing more money at education without real reforms isn’t what our children, our state and our country need right now. This internet stream of funding needs to be tied to real reforms in education, not just more money for more of the same.

Dedicating Internet Sales Tax revenue, the fastest growing part of the sales tax, to transportation with only a little toward education, is not a policy debate, but rather a wholesale surrender, basically a total change in state priorities.

With all due respect to the governor, the deal you propose essentially relegates education, in the future, to back seat status to transportation.

As Robert Frost would say, that is the road not taken — and for good reason.

( – promoted by lowkell)

by Paul Goldman

Not since Patrick Henry said “Give me Liberty or give me Death” has someone speaking from Church Hill come up with a better campaign slogan. But it is true: Governor McDonnell may have given Ken Cuccinelli a campaign slogan (“No Gas Tax”) to match the one created 16 years ago (“No Car Tax”) by Boyd Marcus, now Bill Bolling’s campaign manager.

Quite the irony. But Democrats are going to have a hard time fighting the “No Gas Tax” slogan if it ever gets legs, irrespective of the policy debate as to user fees vs. general taxation to fund transportation.

I believe user fees need to play a major role in transportation; one reason being you can’t use such fees on education. Are Democrats going to propose extending the sales tax to educational services such as college tuition?

BUT POLITICS AND POLICY CAN OFTEN BE CAMPAIGNS APART.

That is why I have been writing about the coming education issue in 2013 for more than a year. Like it or not, transportation and education are competing right now for the same tax dollar.

So unless the Democrats can be proactive as opposed to just pushing the same ol’ same ol’, they could find themselves losing a race they should win in 2013.  

Flashback: In 1997, Democrat Don Beyer, calling the “No Car Tax” a “lemon” (Beyer you may recall was a car dealer) positioned himself against Gilmore with the basic slogan “Education First,” or something along those lines. That didn’t turn out too well for Beyer, even though he had a big lead in the polls at one point.

WARNING TO DEMOCRATS: Don’t underestimate the appeal of “No Gas Tax” in the hands of a McDonnell/Cuccinelli combo.

True, it isn’t the same equation as in 1997, because Gilmore wasn’t proposing to raise a tax to eliminate the tax. It was just a campaign slogan. So in that sense it is not as politically attractive.

ON THE OTHER HAND: It is addressing a real need in key Democratic areas like NOVA. What Bob McDonnell’s proposing is to replace a far more hated tax with a far more acceptable tax in terms of polling. And he forces Democrats to come up with their own plan: Plus, if he is successful, it isn’t just a slogan, he will have eliminated the tax in time for the election.

So if Democrats aren’t careful, they could be blamed for keeping the gas tax that voters are paying to drive to the polls!!

THIS IS A SERIOUS POLITICAL PLAY BY THE GOVERNOR.

So to repeat: Democrats need to get on the offense here. That’s why I say: Use the Internet Sales Tax part of the Governor’s plan to turn the tables of the debate. I don’t think Just the Usual Response – it doesn’t raise taxes enough – is going to prove very politically useful this year.

I couldn’t agree more with Stewart Schwartz of the Coalition for Smarter Growth (see what he has to say below; bolding added by me for emphasis): “At a time when we are seeking to reduce our dependence on foreign oil  and to reduce fossil fuel consumption to fight climate change, the Governor’s proposal takes us in the wrong direction.”

No gas tax?

“That’s right, no more gas tax at the pump. No sales tax at the pump either.”  Governor Bob McDonnell

Experts are still dissecting the Governor’s proposal to eliminate the gas tax and use sales taxes to fund transportation, so some observations have to be preliminary at this stage.  But one thing is clear, the Governor would eliminate all taxes on gasoline (while retaining it on diesel) and shift the burden of paying for our roads to all Virginians whether or not they own a car or drive.

At a time when we are seeking to reduce our dependence on foreign oil  and to reduce fossil fuel consumption to fight climate change, the Governor’s proposal takes us in the wrong direction. He would send exactly the wrong market signal. By removing a user fee under which those who drive more, pay more for the upkeep of our roads, the proposal could increase the amount of driving and the congestion on our roadways. This is fitting for an administration that has focused almost entirely on highway capacity expansion, far too little on transit and transportation demand management, and not at all on supporting more efficient patterns of land use.

Northern Virginia officials, who understand the land use and transportation connection and the congestion problems our region faces, have been focused on expanding transit, on implementing compact, transit-oriented development, and on commuter services to encourage transit, carpooling and telecommuting. The Governor wishes to take us back to the 1950’s and an era of cheap oil and lots of driving.

The implications for transit funding are still not clear.  For one thing, the elimination of the gas tax would also mean the elimination of Northern Virginia’s special increment on the gas tax that has been dedicated to funding Metro. The allocation of $300 million of the new transit money to Dulles Rail is still short of what the state should be funding out of its existing revenues and is certainly a play to win the votes of northern Virginia legislators.

The dramatic nature of the Governor’s proposal is also likely to distract attention from what had been growing criticism of the McDonnell administration’s use of the $3 billion in borrowed funds provided by the General Assembly in 2011, including the $1.2 billion allocated to the egregiously wasteful and unnecessary Route 460.  But the public and legislators ought to demand reforms in VDOT planning and prioritization before giving the Governor the additional money he seeks, no matter what the source of funding.

The Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, Virginia Transit Association, Commonwealth Institute, and Senate and House budget staffs are analyzing the proposal and we will certainly learn more soon, and probably have more questions as well.

Stewart Schwartz

Executive Director

Coalition for Smarter Growth

Good stuff from Sen. Mark Herring (D-Loudoun/Fairfax)!

HERRING INTRODUCES ‘TRAP’ REPEAL LEGISLATION

Leesburg – Democratic candidate for Attorney General State Senator Mark Herring (Loudoun & Fairfax) announced today that he is introducing legislation to repeal the so-called ‘TRAP’ legislation passed by the General Assembly in 2011. The 'TRAP' legislation imposes new costly and unnecessary regulations on women’s health care centers in Virginia.
 
“In 2011, the Republicans did real damage to Virginia's women by passing burdensome regulations on health care centers that provide services to thousands of women across the Commonwealth,” Herring stated.
 
“Now that the damage is done, they say they don't want to discuss these issues again.  Well we don't accept that. We are going to fight to fix what they have done.”
 
Herring took aim at the Republican-controlled General Assembly for their concerted effort to make health care more difficult to access and more expensive for Virginia women.

 
“At every opportunity, rather than helping the women of Virginia, Republicans used their legislative powers to make things more difficult and more expensive.  It was legislating at the height of arrogance and condescension.  It is everything that is wrong with politics today, where one Party's righteousness of opinion was all that mattered to them and all other voices were shut out.”
 
Herring also criticized Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli for his role in bullying the State Board of Health to abandon a grandfathering provision that would have exempted existing health care centers from the new regulations.
 
“Ken Cuccinelli took it upon himself to compound this assault on women.  Rather than see this legislation for what it is—a concerted effort to hinder women's ability to access the health care they need and deserve–he saw the legislation through his ideological lens.  Never mind that this will hurt women, the important thing for the Attorney General was whether the legislation satisfied his radical agenda.” 
 
“We are going to put patient safety and well-being first. We are going to listen to doctors and medical experts across the state that have come out against Cuccinelli's bullying efforts.  And we are going to act, because if we don't, women across the Commonwealth will feel the effects of this right-wing crusade against women's health care.”

"Sen. Herring has been a champion for reproductive rights in the Commonwealth,” Tarina Keene of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia said.  “His legislation to exempt women's health centers from the most burdensome and unnecessary construction requirements will protect women's rights and ensure that thousands of Virginian women do not lose access to essential medical care. His bill rectifies this unprecedented burden and ensures that reproductive health centers receive the same treatment as all other regulated facilities."