What does this article add to the political debate? There is nothing new here. No news, just the trading of the same old charges. Why invest reporters (this time it took two of them to tell us nothing new) in something like this when they could be investigating the real problems Virginia is facing and outlining some of the solutions we might implement and then getting candidates to answer questions about such options.
The Post actually did give us a great article today about HOT lanes, though it could have given us more info. on whether such HOT lanes actually reduced congestion on the regular lanes. The local angle story didn’t do that, either, but gave us an insight to how the slugs feel about HOT lanes. They make legitimate points. Remember, the idea that’s pitched to us about HOT lanes is that while it will improve the commute times of those who pay the tolls, the rest of are supposed to get relief because HOT lanes takes traffic off regular lanes.
Maybe Mike Shear, Chris Jenkins and the rest of the Virginia political reporters will use the info. on HOT lanes to probe the candidates for in-depth answers. But it seems such a waste of talent to have Shear & Co. writing these useless stories.