Comments on: Bob Marshall’s faux transportation bills.

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:44:06 +0000

And for the stellar use of ‘jackassery’ in a sentence…another $20.

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:42:19 +0000

Im in for 100 dead presidents. That makes $400 if your still taking donations.

By: Mark Brooks

Mark Brooks — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:41:36 +0000

Republicans are crying over their misspent century. Too bad they won’t be getting a chance again soon…oops! I meant, darn! They have to wait to screw things up again.

And if someone thinks that I am being overly generalized, the Republican brand has suffered a setback in the last 6 years. I have nothing else to judge them by. Actions, not words, are what is needed now.

By: MB

MB — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:09:13 +0000

Hear that? That was the sound of deflating hopes across the internets.

By: Waldo Jaquith

Waldo Jaquith — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 01:22:26 +0000

Nah, I’ll just set some ground rules that it has to be a real newspaper, maybe a Virginia daily or something along those lines.

By: Mark Brooks

Mark Brooks — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 01:06:11 +0000

Waldo,

Make sure and look on L/N for articles from Weekly Standard, NewsMax, and/or NewsBusters.

You are sure to find something there. Not the truth, mind you, but something.

By: Waldo Jaquith

Waldo Jaquith — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:12:18 +0000

That’s right. But the catch is that the longer you hold out, the more likely it is that somebody else will claim the purse first.

By: Julie

Julie — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:53:38 +0000

So, say I have the goods, that is, links and articles that prove that Gilmore really did leave things in great shape and Warner wrecked things. The longer I hold out, the more I make?

By: Waldo Jaquith

Waldo Jaquith — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:05:04 +0000

Before I make this challenge formal-like (and I think I’ll do it on a sliding scale, perhaps increasing by $10/day for X days until somebody meets it), I’m going to spend another quality hour or two on LexisNexis. I’ve put about an hour into it so far, back when I first wrote about this, and obviously turned up nothing. As I’ve said, so many otherwise-intelligent people are claiming that Gilmore left the economy in great shape that I just have to think that I’m overlooking something.

Thanks for helping to make this interesting! I’m good for another $100—the first $100, in terms of when the payout is made—so that gets us up to a maximum of $300, or 30 days. That raises an interesting question of microeconomics, the question of when somebody with appropriate documentation should step forward to maximize their profit while minimizing the risk that somebody else will claim the bounty first.

Ah, this will be fun.

By: MB

MB — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:46:11 +0000

In for another $100.

By: Bubby

Bubby — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:26:40 +0000

I’m in. $100 to the Waldo Gilmiracle Challenge. Who knows, this might be Gilmore’s opportunity to pick up some badly needed cash (if he’s holding anything).

By: Sam

Sam — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:01:15 +0000

Balance (do you prefer Tyler?) I agree that the question “what can we cut?” should be an important part of the budgeting process, particularly when we’re discussing the possibility of raising taxes. Looking for ways to reduce our spending on other lower-priority expenditures isn’t a bad thing; it’s actually a pretty good thing. I note that historically, agreeing first to look at spending before taking action to raise revenues was a large part of how Mark Warner built a bi-partisan coalition to address the funding shortfall for education and other critical public services during his administration.

I’d also like to note that I support Marshall for doing more than proposing another VDOT audit (which would be the ninth in seven years). He may not have a transportation plan, but he’s closer to having one than Bob McDonnell. Perhaps the wrong guy from the GOP is running for Governor.

Here’s what I have an issue with: he’s grandstanding to make it look like he has a transportation plan when actually he’s just recycling a bunch of old ideas that didn’t make it out of a Republican-controlled committee to the floor of a Republican-controlled House of Delegates for a vote. I’m not sure why his Republican colleagues are shooting down his ideas (retribution for challenging Gilmore? or for challenging their 2007 plan in court?) but at this point we’ve let the transportation issue go unaddressed or inadequately addressed for so long that I’d prefer he spend his time trying to come up with a broader solution rather than trying to grandstand for his constituents back home.

By: Waldo Jaquith

Waldo Jaquith — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:55:59 +0000

James, logic fails you here. I’ll restate what I’ve already said, since apparently I was insufficiently clear.

This is a transportation session. We had a budget session—you might remember it—just a couple of months ago. Museums != transportation. If a bill about a museum didn’t pass during a budget session, it’s sure as hell has no place in a transportation session.

Marshall introduces an embarrassment of bills each year. He’s the top filer, far and away, every time.

So if we’re taking turns painting each other with stupid, partisan brushes, I’ve got one for you: For a party that’s about limited and efficient government, your man Marshall sure is all about filling it up with as many bills as he can cram into its maw. In short, it is a fool’s errand to try to argue with a Rightie, because you’re damned if you do, and damned if you don’t. Must be nice to have your cake, and eat it, too.

See? I, too, can be an insufferable ass. (It comes easy.)

Is it any wonder that no one has taken you up on your “challenge.”

Oh, that is awesome. So what you’re telling me is that there are just oodles are articles out there documenting that Gilmore left a budget surplus, and you and lots of other Republicans know about them, but you’re just holding out, because I’m “a Leftie”? There’s just this evidence out there, the only evidence supporting your thesis but, hey, why bother telling anybody? God, that’s delicious.

I guess I need to start putting a bounty on this documentation. Maybe there’s a price at which somebody will produce this precious, precious data.

By: James Young

James Young — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:27:09 +0000

You know, it’s funny, Waldo: you Liberals bitch and moan about Republican fiscal prudence (i.e., refusing to increase taxes) by asking “Where would you cut”? And then you ridicule a Republican who shows you where he would cut or, more accurately, reallocate resources. In short, it is a fool’s errand to try to argue with a Leftie, because you’re damned if you do, and damned if you don’t. Is it any wonder that no one has taken you up on your “challenge.”

Must be nice to have your cake, and eat it, too.

By: J. Tyler Ballance

J. Tyler Ballance — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:07:38 +0000

Both parties know we need more money for infrastructure. Out of a nearly forty billion dollar budget, there are many areas where some targeted cuts can be achieved. For example, privatizing the State owned rest stops, as they have done in other states, could generate several million per year and get that expense off of the budget. Some candidates for the House, such as Henrico’s Jimmy Wheat, have proposed privatizing the ABC stores; a step that, if handled correctly, could create hundreds of entrepreneurship opportunities for small business owners while generating net income greater than the current state-owned monopoly. There are hundreds of million dollar Budget line items, like “Minority Business Enterprise” a function where small and minority owned businesses are included in the bidding process, that is, by law, already the responsibility of every existing agency; so there is no legitimate need for a redundant agency.

I encourage our citizens to spend a few hours and look at the actual budget and contact their legislator with ideas for targeted cuts and proposed consolidations.

If the Republicans can return home and can show that they won some belt tightening issues, then they can declare the Special Session a victory. If the Democrats can return home and show that they were able to fund key infrastructure without resorting to tolls, or foreign ownership, but with only a modest tax increase that is shared by all of our citizens, then they too, can declare victory.

If the citizens get targeted cuts to the budget, along with a minor tax increase, like the gas tax, that is paid by all drivers (including out of state) and a modest increase in registration fees, without the addition of road clogging toll plazas, or more cops hiding in bushes with radar guns, “hunting” the citizens as revenue prey, then Virginians can declare victory, too.