SOTU Response: Isn't it Ironic?
OK, I'll admit it. I couldn't stay awake for all the State of the Union last night and Governor McDonnell's response, even from our own House of Delegates chamber.
(ed. note -- I've never met a President in my life and yet I am friends with three people who have given SOTU responses on national television)
I did peruse Governor McDonnell's remarks in today's RTD. Sounded like standard stuff -- get government off people's backs, reduce taxes, off-shore drilling, charter schools, etc., etc. Nothing terribly controversial or very new.
I noted from the text of his speech that McDonnell specifically criticized the President's "stimulus plan" from 2009. Of course, that stimulus money was used by the General Assembly in a bipartisan manner to fill our budget gaps last year. But that's not the issue.
What I find fascinating is that the Governor -- while criticizing the President's 2009 stimulus plan -- has recently prescribed the exact same elixir for Virginia, i.e. having government jump-start the economy by spending money.
The new Governor's "jobs plan" announced on Tuesday consists of AT LEAST $50 million in new spending, in addition to the usual tax credits for preferred industries. This spending goes to the following "core priorities" of Virginia government:
-- the Virginia Tourism Council for new television ads
-- the Virginia Wine Promotion Fund for promoting Virginia wines
-- the Motion Picture Opportunity Fund for ....... making movies?
If a Democrat had proposed this new spending, he would have been ridiculed from one end of the Capitol to another. But now we have a Republican Governor telling us we "need to spend money to make money." (that's a quote from Monday's speech by the Governor to the Assembly).
Umm, isn't that exactly why President Obama is being criticized? And how is this Virginia stimulus not deficit spending, since our new Governor has failed to give any details for actually cutting the state budget?
(I'll say one thing for Democrats. At least when we're spending the public dollar, we're doing it on robust things like bridges and highways. Not wine tastings).
So we have a new Governor proposing a Virginia stimulus plan one day, then criticizing the President for the Federal stimulus plan the next day. Each one based on deficit spending.
As Alanis Morrissette would say -- isn't it ironic?
I guess it would be especially nasty for me to suggest that he might be planning on paying for this stuff - from NoVa composite index money.. huh?
see that's different from the Dems.. they just go straight for the deficit but the Republicans..they know how to do paygo - right?
heh heh
Senator,
Ironic, I don't know. But, let me point out that we should be very careful about making the two parties seem so similar. There is this new group of "populists" that are beyond conservative. What they want to is to demonstrate how different they are from the two parties. This is what happened in Massachusetts. Unfortunately, all they have to offer is a bunch of loud-mouthed jerks that have no credentials, educationally or politically.
However, they have the volume. And the press likes to cover the loudest, not the smartest. So, my suggestion to you is to find a way to make things happen with moderates from both parties before the loudmouths take over.
BC
@BC
The new group of so-called "populists" try to give the impression that they are from neither party. However, I think the image they are trying to project is a trojan horse which is really covering far-right wing ideas. A number of these so-called tea-party people are really just Republicans but give you all this blather about the creation of a "new Bull-Moose party" and likening themselves to the revolutionaries who fought at Lexington and Concord (which I find deeply insulting and a bit unhinged).
Please- please vote against the new proposals- we do not need to be giving money to people to make movies when we are cutting back on parks and closing LIBRARIES (see the website for the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library -Albemarle Co). The wine initiative should be funded by the wineries and maybe the tourism by contributions from the counties that more directly benefit. Surely Hanover would like more people at Kings Dominion.
One thing I don't understand is why our new Gov is investing treasure in re-opening rest stops but not on fixing the roads that take people there.
Meg,
You will note that two of the closed rest stops were in Prince William County on I-95 and I-66. Perhaps, the closings and subsequent re-opening has something to do with politics? Of course, why do we really need so many rest stops particularly so close to population centers? I think that having "welcome centers" at the borders would be a better use of money.
BC
well.. any budget is always about priorities as no matter what the economy is - there is never enough money to do everything we want to do - just like with our own home budgets.
in down economies, we really are forced to think hard about needs verses wants.
so yes.. we'd very much want to be able to provide rest areas across the state but when the alternative to doing that might, in effect, be to trade rest areas for State Troopers.. I think we need to pull ourselves together and recognize that we are not in a business-as-usual economy.
I'm all for boosting the state's image for tourists who don't want to come here simply for the purpose of touring Civil War battlefields. If McDonnell makes this investment, I would hope he doesn't take money from any other worthy programs, though. (Perhaps this would be a legacy better established in his last two years, rather than right away.)
In terms of tourism... I think we should not discount any potential attraction and, in fact, tout the fact that we have it "all" ... provide many "hooks" that would convince people that there are plenty enough things to see and do for a week, two weeks or more.
but also recognize that Virginia is not Florida in terms of destinations...
One of the things I would consider is to capitalize on the fact that Va has a lot of military work going on - ideal venues for related businesses....
Getting a new drone factory or similar could be a real feather in McDonnells cap and could take some of the sting out of our current economic sores.
This is no time to be doubling the "Governor's Slush Fund for Bribing Big Business to Move Here". We simply can't afford this. A corporation that would move here because of a bribe will soon move to another state when it tops the offer. We'd rather have businesses to move here because the quality of life is good; they will stay for the long haul. About the wine thing, the Gov is probably hoping Michaele and Tareq will crash one of his parties.
Good point ~ it's like being a mistress. If he leaves his wife for you, he'll leave you for someone else.
" Georgia Finally
Lands the
Big One
Kia to invest $1.2 billion, hire 2,500
at plant in West Point"
http://www.siteselection.com/ssinsider/bbdeal/bd060316.htm
Now.. they could leave but after putting more than a billion dollars of skin into that game .. how likely?
Virginia needs to better understand why plants like this go to places like Georgia - and work to put itself in the competition.
It will probably take more than "bribes"... but understanding the things that those companies are looking for and making sure we provide those things is not a stupid strategy IMHO.
I'm sure the folks in Franklin or Martinsville or Coburn would be thrilled out of their minds with an auto plant that employed 2500 people.
The point here is that.. the world still has companies that make cars... and it appears that there are states in the US that have figured out how to get those jobs.
It would be very refreshing for me to read that instead of plants closing down in Va.. that we read about new plants opening up.
is that worth putting tax dollars into?
for myself.. I think this is a "duh" question.
You guys crack me up. $50M? Out of a budget of $30+B? 1/600th of the budget? If Obama had limited his stimulus to 1/600th of the budget nobody would have complained.
I think McDonnelland Bolling are starting to exhibit some clownish behavior. For example, Bolling's self-promoting fascination with bringing jobs to Virginia. Great idea. Where's the beef? Transportation is a mess, the budget is busted and the education system is being ruined even in the few places where it actually works. The Governor and the Lt Governor need to do more than say they're going to go get jobs. They need to create a state where employers and employees want to come. Through the campaign and in the early days of their administration the Governor and Lt Governor have only shown the most superficial understanding of state-wide employment. They deserve legitimate criticism for a plan that is long on hype and short on reality. But $50M? The Commonwealth of Virginia spends $50M every 2 hours of every workday.
I just wanna say.. even though I did not favor him for Gov... that I ... _will_ give him a couple of years to accomplish anything before I jump on him for non-performance.
sheesh....
politics is getting so.. if you get elected.. the pitchforks are coming for you a week later..!!
well.. we're starting to get a track record here:
" Virginia Department of Transportation staffers have been working for days to come up with a plan to reopen the mothballed rest stops -- and, crucially, find the money to do so.
They'll use $3 million from the department's maintenance reserve funds -- money it sets aside in case of harsh winters or worse-than-usual hurricane seasons -- to reopen the stops and run them for the rest of this fiscal year, which ends June 30."
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/state_regional_govtpolitics/article/REST21_20100120-223208/319097/
I'm sure there are different opinions as to whether or not this is good fiscal policy or not... hope they don't need that money for snow removal....
I'm cynical enough to more than wonder that the lady "Democrat who's going to vote Republican" on the ads was perhaps the heiress that runs/proposes a unique resort in Virginia? The Governor's propposals are a reward perhaps for her support?
Sabina: You are on to something there. I had not thought of that.