So much more to the story...

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Once again the Staunton NewsLeader Editorial has started to jump on the “Republican-dominated House of Delegates” before they even get to the next General assembly session so not to miss the holiday rush…

In this weeks NewsLeader editorial:
“Astute followers of current affairs will recall that this is the same elected body that failed to address the state's transportation needs during the regular sessions of 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 and required a special session this fall, ostensibly to address the problems they failed to find solutions for during the previous several years.”

Also seems that the NewsLeader loves to go after those that they feel are not doing the job they were elected to do. “Del. William Howell, R-Stafford, the leader of the obstructionist, Republican-dominated House of Delegates (the root cause of Virginia's recurring nightmare, despite the existence of a sensible, responsible, equally Republican-dominated Senate) announced that he and his gang will insist on spending at least half of the state's surplus revenues on transportation. No budging. No compromising. Nothing less than that or no deal.”

Looks like the NewsLeader loves the Senate for they are willing to once again raise the tax rates on the Virginia workers even when the state has a surplus from the last Democratic Governor Mark Warner tax increase. The reason the Delegates would not go along with the new Democratic Governor Tim Kaine during the last session is that Kaine wanted to raise our taxes again to pay for the transportation crisis without using the surplus we now have. The Delegates stood up to the Democratic Governor who wanted to raise taxes again and would not approve another tax on the Virginia citizens without a plan to use the surplus. The Delegates should be commended for standing up to the Governor and “His” Senate…

Fact is we do have a transportation problem in Virginia and one that needs to be addressed. But it must be done in a way that uses the surplus we now have in a wise manner and include other revenue producing tools to pay for the needed work. Republican Delegate Chris Saxman has already been talking about this problem for some time. Democratic Governor Kaine wanted to save this surplus in a “Rainy-Day” fund that sounded nothing but a way to use this money on other “Pet” projects that he would not describe.

A few weeks back Delegate Saxman spoke in front of the local Chamber 0f Commerce about pending changes and closings of VDOT facilities to improve efficiency and save taxpayer money. The Staunton NewsLeader staff determined this story was not worthy of coverage and passed on covering the meeting. Another local Newspaper covered it and did a good job at reporting the discussion on this now important crisis.

This past week Republican Delegate Chris Saxman met with the Harrisonburg Rotary Club and spoke to the group of 125 for some time. It was covered by the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record newspaper (Tue. 12 Dec 06, page D1 by Dan Wright) but once again the Staunton NewsLeader must have decided that it was not “Newsworthy” once again…

If possible get a copy and read Wright's coverage on this meeting. Here are some of Delegate Saxman’s statements:
“ There’s no silver bullet for transportation. We have to reform a lot of what were doing if we’re going to solve problems long term”.

“We need to manages outcomes so we don’t need more resources to get the same results”. “Ninety percent of the people don’t want a tax increase”.

It was also discussed that the Rail solutions out there would really only be beneficial if the goods are hauled 500 miles or more… Saxman also stated that a tax increase won’t work because there’s no guaranteeing where the money will go. “We had funding last year and the Senate wouldn’t even agree to spend that”…

We need to support the Delegates as they call for sensible solutions to the transportation problem… We also need to question those who only support Tax increases when we already have a surplus being held in a “Rainy-Day” fund…