{"id":1388,"date":"2004-04-16T13:38:42","date_gmt":"2004-04-16T17:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/000af36.netsolhost.com\/wordpress1\/2004\/04\/16\/virginia_news_12\/"},"modified":"2004-04-16T13:38:42","modified_gmt":"2004-04-16T17:38:42","slug":"virginia_news_12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/2004\/04\/16\/virginia_news_12\/","title":{"rendered":"Virginia News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Not much budget news this morning, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/articles\/A15930-2004Apr15.html \">except<\/a> that the Senate is considering freezing the car tax reimbursement, reversing the House\u2019s elimination of increased recordation fees on home purchases, and \u2013 my favorite \u2013 offering a local option sales tax (though I\u2019d prefer a local option income tax).  <\/p>\n<p>Gov. Mark Warner takes up the news slack by taking action on some <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/articles\/A16344-2004Apr15.html \">bills<\/a>.  And he\u2019ll <a href=\"http:\/\/www.timesdispatch.com\/servlet\/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&#038;c=MGArticle&#038;cid=1031774910364&#038;path=%21news%21politics&#038;s=1031773094959 \">sign a bill<\/a> to allow Richmonders to elect their own mayors \u2013 and pay them.<\/p>\n<p>U-Va.&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.timesdispatch.com\/servlet\/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&#038;c=MGArticle&#038;cid=1031774909626&#038;path=%21news&#038;s=1045855934842\">tuitions<\/a> are going up, as are <a href=\"http:\/\/www.timesdispatch.com\/servlet\/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&#038;c=MGArticle&#038;cid=1031774910188&#038;path=%21news&#038;s=1045855934842\">VCU\u2019s<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Higher education could be <em>the <\/em>issue in the 2005 campaigns.  Middle income families will be concerned about tuition hikes; well-to-do ones will worry if there will be a seat in the classroom for their kids at Virginia colleges; and the parents of the smartest kids will wonder if they can learn in 500-student classroom.<\/p>\n<p>VDOT gets a good report card.  OK, at least a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailypress.com\/news\/local\/dp-94541sy0apr16,0,591924.story.  \">better one<\/a>. And the Woodrow Wilson Bridge project in Alexandria is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.timesdispatch.com\/servlet\/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&#038;c=MGArticle&#038;cid=1031774902985&#038;path=%21news%21vaapwire&#038;s=1045855935241\">getting kudos<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I wonder if the waste, fraud and abuse folks are noticing.<\/p>\n<p>But mental healthcare is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newsadvance.com\/servlet\/Satellite?pagename=LNA%2FMGArticle%2FLNA_BasicArticle&#038;c=MGArticle&#038;cid=1031774911453&#038;path=!frontpage \">hurting<\/a> and smog is worse <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/articles\/A16032-2004Apr15.html \">here<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.freelancestar.com\/News\/FLS\/2004\/042004\/04162004\/1330996 \">here<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailypress.com\/news\/dp-94770sy0apr16,0,2063339.story?coll=dp-headlines-topnews \">here<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.timesdispatch.com\/servlet\/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&#038;c=MGArticle&#038;cid=1031774910159&#038;path=%21news&#038;s=1045855934842\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Hey, I\u2019ve got the solution:  Let\u2019s cut taxes!<\/p>\n<p>The Daily Press <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailypress.com\/news\/opinion\/dp-94439sy0apr16,0,5475051.story?coll=dp-opinion-editorials \">editorializes<\/a> that any budget compromise is only a \u201cband-aid.\u201d  The key lies yonder, in Nov. 2005.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>What is significant is the presence of recently elected officials &#8211; predominately in the House of Delegates &#8211; who have subordinated logic and responsibility for political demagoguery\u2026.<\/p>\n<p>Despite representations to the contrary, the &#8220;no-tax&#8221; position is not a philosophy. A philosophy requires a set of principles, a consistent and guiding logic, a rationale, a plan\u2026.<\/p>\n<p>Do the members who repeat the mantra of &#8220;no new taxes&#8221; actually have a program for reducing the size and cost of state and local government?<\/p>\n<p>No.<\/p>\n<p>Have they laid out a series of choices that acknowledges what must be sacrificed if their &#8220;no-tax&#8221; slogans rule?<\/p>\n<p>No.<\/p>\n<p>Have they proposed alternatives to traditional government programs, innovations that might employ public resources more efficiently and effectively?<\/p>\n<p>No.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> No:  That pretty much sums up the GOP\u2019s fiscal policy.<\/p>\n<p>But some GOPers realize that\u2019s not enough.  \u201cSomethin\u2019s happenin\u2019 <a href=\"http:\/\/home.hamptonroads.com\/stories\/story.cfm?story=69037&#038;ran=208395\">here<\/a>.  What it is ain\u2019t exactly clear.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Another <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailypress.com\/news\/local\/dp-94608sy0apr16,0,2820152.story?coll=dp-news-local-final \">poll<\/a> saying two different things, and two different interpretations of the same poll.<\/p>\n<p>Back to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/articles\/A12734-2004Apr14.html \">retail politics<\/a> for Congressman Jim Moran.  \u201cJim is doing lots and lots and lots of coffees with voters&#8221; <br \/>\n&#8211;Campaign Manager, Dan Lucas<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s Sunday, can I <a href=\"http:\/\/home.hamptonroads.com\/stories\/story.cfm?story=69044&#038;ran=76075\">buy you a drink<\/a>? <\/p>\n<p>Quote of the day: <br \/>\n&#8220;I think he&#8217;s a decent man. I think he has a good heart. He&#8217;s not how you would depict a Southern police chief of old.&#8221; <br \/>\n&#8211;Rick Turner, dean of the office of African-American Affairs at the University of Virginia, crediting Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy J. Longo for reconsidering the DNA dragnet to find a rapist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Not much budget news this morning, except that the Senate is considering freezing the car tax reimbursement, reversing the House\u2019s elimination of increased recordation fees on home purchases, and \u2013 my favorite \u2013 offering a local option sales tax (though I\u2019d prefer a local option income tax). Gov. Mark Warner takes up the news slack&hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/2004\/04\/16\/virginia_news_12\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1388"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1388\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}