Moran: McDonnell waging ‘$1.1 billion bet’ on Virginia’s future
Promises to cut federal spending on state transportation projects by the new Republican leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives will have implications on political debates regarding transportation in Virginia.
“House Republicans threatening to cut transportation exposes the dangerous flaws in Bob McDonnell’s deficit-spending transportation plan,” Democratic Party of Virginia Chairman Brian Moran said Wednesday.
McDonnell indicated in the fall that he will ask state legislators to back a plan to jumpstart movement on Virginia’s transportation needs that will include $1.1 billion in bonds that would be paid back with future federal transportation funding. That plan – labeled by Moran as a “$1.1 billion bet” – will put the state’s finances at risk, Moran said.
“If Bob McDonnell has his way, he will heap another billion dollars in debt on top of Virginia families without a sufficient guarantee that we will be able to pay the money back,” Moran said. “All of this uncertainty could be avoided if Bob McDonnell would offer a plan that meets our critical transportation needs without mortgaging our state’s long-term economic health.”
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Democrats rip into McDonnell $4B transportation debt plan
Gov. Bob McDonnell says he can pump $4 billion into road, transit and rail projects over the next three years. The governor’s Democratic Party critics say McDonnell is playing a political shell game.
“A mere month after an election when the voters said we must stop deficit spending, Bob McDonnell has announced a multi-billion-dollar deficit spending plan to fund transportation. Unfortunately this is just the latest in a long line of irresponsible and half-baked ideas that fail to address our core problem of generating a long-term sustainable source of funding for our transportation needs,” House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong said in a statement on the McDonnell plan, which was detailed by the governor in a speech in Roanoke on Thursday.
“This package will get projects underway, and Virginians will see the results all across the Commonwealth,” McDonnell said in his remarks to the Governor’s Transportation Conference, going over his proposal to dedicate $150 million from the projected 2010-2012 biennial budget surplus along with audit funds and an aggressive schedule of bond issues approaching $1.8 billion in total in the McDonnell gubernatorial term.
“These transportation proposals are designed to speed up projects, and to maximize taxpayer dollars to the greatest extent possible. It will play a major role in driving the economic vitality of Virginia and getting our citizens back to work,” said McDonnell, whose office included in a press release listing the justifications for the spending proposals a curious item for a fiscal-conservative Republican who has spoken out against the Democratic efforts at stimulus at the federal level – that for every $100 million spent on highway construction, it is estimated 3,000 jobs are created or supported.
“We have already, in just the first six months of this fiscal year, advertised almost double the amount of road work as during this same time period last year. By putting $4 billion into transportation over the next three years we will continue that progress, and get more Virginians back to work in the process,” McDonnell said.
State Democratic leaders have been pushing for a roads fix for years. Their issue in the aftermath of the remarks from McDonnell isn’t with the commitment to moving Virginia’s transportation system forward, but rather in the approach that includes a substantial amount of public debt.
“This plan would lead to a dangerous explosion in public IOUs at a time when Virginia taxpayers already spend more in debt-service than we spend on sheriff’s offices,” Democratic Party of Virginia chairman Brian Moran said. “At a time when our state budget is already perilously balanced on the backs of Virginia’s retirees, we simply can’t afford for the governor to float a reckless and irresponsible plan to pay for his priorities by borrowing money that we don’t have and cannot pay back without raising taxes. The people of this Commonwealth deserve better leadership than this Jim Gilmore-type financing scheme.”
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Cuccinelli: Voting Rights Act ‘creeping into the drawing of lines’
Virginia has “outgrown” the need for federal oversight into political redistricting mandated under the Voting Rights Act, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli told reporters and editors at today’s AP Day at the Capitol in Richmond.
“I don’t for a moment mean to contend that we don’t have to contend, in our society and in Virginia, with bigotry. We do. But the issue with the Voting Rights Act is, is that creeping into the drawing of lines,” Cuccinelli said.
Virginia is among a number of Southern states with histories of voter discrimination that have to obtain approval from the Justice Department before implementing any changes that could affect voting.
The Voting Rights Act was signed into law in 1965 at the height of efforts to protect equal rights to citizenship, education and voting long denied in the South to African-Americans.
“I think as a state, as a commonwealth, we have outgrown that,” Cuccinelli said.
Brian Moran, the newly elected chairman of the Democratic Party of Virginia, issued a statement strongly condemning Cuccinelli’s comments.
“Ken Cuccinelli’s claim that Virginia no longer has any need for oversight of our redistricting process is not only ignorant, it’s downright dangerous. Too many Virginians fought for too long for equal representation for our attorney general to put his near-pathological aversion to government ahead of their civil rights by removing the safeguards that ensure the integrity of our political system,” Moran said.
“Ken Cuccinelli may think racism and inequality are no longer factors in our political process, but I assure you that any progress we have made would not have been possible were it not for the Voting Rights Act and federal oversight of electoral issues like redistricting,” Moran said.
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Moran named DPVA chair
Brian Moran will succeed Dick Cranwell as chairman of the Democratic Party of Virginia.
Moran, a former state delegate and 2009 Democratic Party gubernatorial-nomination candidate, bested former Arlington County Democratic chair Peter Rousselot in voting by the party’s State Central Committee.
“I want to thank Peter Rousselot for running a great campaign and raising a lot of issues that are important to the success of our party in the future. I also want to thank Dick Cranwell for his outstanding record of service to our party and this Commonwealth, both as a member of the House of Delegates and as Chairman of the DPVA. I am humbled to be asked to follow such a distinguished and effective leader. While I’m sure we will continue to benefit from his participation in our party for years to come, he will be sorely missed as DPVA chair,” Moran said.
Edited by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Moran pushes bid to become party chair
Former state delegate and 2009 gubernatorial candidate Brian Moran is pushing a bid to become the chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia.
In an e-mail sent out by Moran Monday morning, Moran said he is “ready to take on the challenge” of leading the state party, which is in freefall since winning control of the State Senate in 2007 and winning Virginia for Barack Obama in a 2008 election cycle that also saw Mark Warner win election to the U.S. Senate in a landslide and saw Democrats take six of the state’s 11 congressional seats.
Republican Bob McDonnell led a sweep of the 2009 statewide races as the GOP also pushed to a 61-39 majority in the House of Delegates. The 2010 cycle saw three Democratic incumbents lose their congressional seats with a fourth race still too close to call.
Former state delegate and 2009 gubernatorial candidate Brian Moran is pushing a bid to become the chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia.
In an e-mail sent out by Moran Monday morning, Moran said he is “ready to take on the challenge” of leading the state party, which is in freefall since winning control of the State Senate in 2007 and winning Virginia for Barack Obama in a 2008 election cycle that also saw Mark Warner win election to the U.S. Senate in a landslide and saw Democrats take six of the state’s 11 congressional seats.
Republican Bob McDonnell led a sweep of the 2009 statewide races as the GOP also pushed to a 61-39 majority in the House of Delegates. The 2010 cycle saw three Democratic incumbents lose their congressional seats with a fourth race still too close to call.
Brian Moran | Standing behind the ticket
While the primary didn’t turn out the way we would have liked, we gave it everything we had. We have a strong Democratic ticket that I’ll be supporting this November. I know I’ll be working hard to make sure we win the three top positions and gaining those last delegate seats we need for a majority. Now, I’m asking you for two more favors, both are very simple. Read more
Vindication – Deeds takes Democratic nomination in dramatic fashion
When Creigh Deeds announced his candidacy for the 2009 Democratic Party gubernatorial nomination back in December 2007, it was not exactly with the full support of the Democratic Party decisionmaking set. The whispers at the time and for months after were that party leaders had been trying to persuade Deeds to make another run at the attorney-general job to clear the way for Northern Virginia lawmaker and Mark Warner acolyte Brian Moran to run for governor. Read more
