Deeds’ transportation plan risky for him, but best for Virginia

The election for Virginia governor is only weeks away. Democrat Creigh Deeds and Republican Bob McDonnell faced each other four years ago in the race for attorney general. McDonnell outspent Deeds by $3 million yet bested him by only 350 votes. This race will be close again.

Most people will vote for the party they almost always vote for. There’s nothing wrong with that. Parties are “brands” that represent views about which we mostly agree or disagree.

Much of the media coverage has centered on transportation. The problem is particularly acute in the D.C. suburbs — Virginia’s primary economic engine — making it an issue important to
all Virginians.

But any transportation plan has to be formulated and passed by the General Assembly before it reaches the governor. And while the governor’s wishes are important, it is the legislature that draws up the specifics of the plan.

There is much agreement about what needs to be done. How to fund it is the issue. Deeds wrote about his plan in an op-ed in the Washington Post, noting that the only approach that has succeeded in the past two decades involves new “funding” — aka a gas tax increase. And while suggesting the “T-word” is always politically risky, it is the only realistic way to produce the funding that is needed.

The Virginia state gas tax is 19 cents a gallon, less than almost all other states. As a percentage of the price of gas (the way retail sales tax is calculated), the gas tax is less than half of what it was 23 years ago. Deeds says he will sign a bill that includes such a tax increase.

McDonnell likes to brag about his more comprehensive plan and his refusal to sign a gas tax increase. But it rests largely on wildly optimistic projections and assumptions. The most widely mentioned aspect is his plan to sell all the Alcoholic Beverage Control stores for a one-time purported $500 million.

In this economic climate that is unrealistic, not to mention that many if not most of the properties are leased. And who would buy a small liquor store when the big box stores would likely end up dominating the industry?

And those ABC stores net $100 million in profits each year, meaning that we would have to make up that revenue from somewhere else.

In sum, we can fix our critical transportation infrastructure by having drivers pay the equivalent of what we paid for gas two weeks ago.

Or as happened in the last senatorial election, one candidate may have his “Macaca” moment. That may have happened recently when Bob McDonnell’s highest profile endorser, BET founder Sheila Johnson, recently mocked Creigh Deeds’ minor stutter, referring to him as McDonnell’s “ah, ah, ah, ah, opponent.”

The McDonnell camp so far has refused to apologize for this ugly remark. As the National Stuttering Association asked Johnson, “Do you also make fun of people in wheelchairs, or do you believe that stuttering is the only disability it’s OK to ridicule?”

Frankly, I think the economy is the most important issue. And Forbes magazine recently found Virginia to be the best state for business for the fourth year in a row. I would think keeping those policies in place would be a top priority for any voter.
Legge’s column runs every other Thursday.