Bob McDonnell Cluelessness on Transportation

The flooding of the west bound lanes of the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel the day before the 4th of July weekend has highlighted the incompetence of VDOT and the terrible lack of funding for transportation projects in Virginia. In fact, it has come to light that needed maintenance to the region's tunnels is 4 to 5 years behind what is needed. The difficulty is that each year the Republican controlled Virginia House of Delegates blocks meaningful financing for transportation and adds to the slow strangulation of economic growth as highways become more and more obsolete. Enter GOP candidate for Governor, Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell. McDonnell is the epitome of the no tax/Bible thumping Republican notwithstanding his current campaign attempt to pretend he's a moderate. An op-ed in the Roanoke Times looks at McDonnell's antiquated views on transportation funding:

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Most Virginians look at VDOT and see an agency so fiscally emaciated that it can't even afford to keep rest areas open or medians mowed. Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell looks at the Virginia Department of Transportation and sees ... flab. He told The Washington Times that if he's elected governor, he'll seek budget cuts for the transportation agency, along with Virginia's chintzy Medicaid program. McDonnell followed up a pledge to cut two crucial and severely underfunded programs with this bit of positive, happy nonsense:

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"I'm trying during this campaign to help to rebrand our party as the party of positive, happy, friendly, conservative leadership that's pro-growth, pro-free enterprise, pro-economic development. And that's really what we stand for."

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There's nothing pro-growth about starving Virginia's transportation program -- which is why the Virginia Chamber of Commerce understands the need for "dedicated, stable and permanent revenue sources" to fund transportation, even as McDonnell's party remains reflexively opposed to any solution involving tax increases.
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Sadly, McDonnell believes the state GOP's problems are about image, not substance -- and mainly a reflection of the failures of the national party. For instance, in Wednesday's Washington Post, state Republicans had the absolute gall to complain that Virginia was the last state to complete its application for highway funds from the federal stimulus package. "Of everything Virginia receives in its package, the one item that would stimulate the economy is the money for transportation," Sen. Ryan T. McDougle, R-Hanover, told The Post. "It's difficult to understand why we would not be moving faster."

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Really? Is it so difficult? Since he took office, Gov. Tim Kaine has been wrestling with the House GOP over funding for transportation. VDOT has had to slash billions of dollars in projects as its funding has, as predicted, dried up. . . . That McDonnell can look at a budget that has absorbed billions of dollars in cuts due to the recession and spout the same tired lines about government waste is incredible, and hardly a recipe for rebranding the state Republican Party. The people of Virginia seem to be catching on to the fact that, even in state government, you get what you pay for.

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The GOP in Virginia seems dead set to drag Virginia back into the 1950's or early 1960's while the rest of the nation struggles to move further on into the 21st century. Bob McDonnell's vision of Virginia and the reactionary agenda of the Republican Party of Virginia should be rejected by all thinking Virginians.