TMG Urges House GOP to Hold Firm Against Tax Hike

The conservative Tuesday Morning Group sent the following update highlighting some key points from this Washington Post article. Definitely some good stuff.

Tim Kaine is threatening to put pressure on 26 Republican Delegates if he doesn’t get his way on the budget. Since Kaine has become Governor, he has done little else but threaten. His ham-handed way of relating to others is not an attribute of leadership, but does show clearly he is not the politician that Mark Warner was. This is not to say there aren’t certain similarities. To get elected, they both lied about their plans to raise taxes.

Nineteen House Republicans caved and voted for the 2004 budget. Three of those are no longer in the legislature. The remaining 16 have apparently been assigned permanent patsy status having defined themselves as individuals who fall to the floor and assume the fetal position whenever the going gets tough. Kaine thinks he has identified 10 more to add to that number who have discovered that compromising is a way to keep from having to make the tough decisions that should come with governing.

Currently, the budget negotiators want to limit and concentrate transportation spending in the most congested areas of the state. This is exactly what the Virginia Institute and The Heritage Foundation recommended in our recent joint publication, 21st Century Highways: Innovative Solutions to America’s Transportation Needs.

Sen. John Chichester believes there is “some self-help need in those two areas [Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads].” As the two economic engines that drive the commonwealth and disproportionately contribute to state government revenue, Chichester wants to see the people of Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads levy additional taxes on themselves so that roads can be built in those parts of the commonwealth where there is no congestion. Why would we provide transportation solutions in those areas of the state that have no transportation problems? Because Chichester is trying to maximize the returns of those who invested in his, and his cronies’, last election.

Which brings us to Speaker Howell’s comment, “I think at some point, the pressure will become such that both sides will realize they need to compromise ….” Perhaps one’s opening bid should not be to fold. I have never seen Chichester do that, and he’s successful.

Kaine is correct about one thing. The battle comes down to the House. This week, please contact your Delegate and tell him or her that you are not interested in “investing” in more state government by paying more in taxes – particularly when the commonwealth has been running a surplus for three years, and when economists indicate that those surpluses will only grow larger each year for the foreseeable future.