{"id":496,"date":"2006-08-09T11:17:39","date_gmt":"2006-08-09T15:17:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/000af36.netsolhost.com\/wordpress1\/2006\/08\/09\/gop_retreats_de\/"},"modified":"2006-08-09T11:17:39","modified_gmt":"2006-08-09T15:17:39","slug":"gop_retreats_de","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/2006\/08\/09\/gop_retreats_de\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP “Retreats”; Dems Don’t"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week’s Mason-Dixon poll, which found weak support for higher transportation taxes, is a solid message from taxpayers and drivers, according to Del. Clay Athey, R-Front Royal.<\/p>\n

“The people of Virginia believe that we have enough money to have a fine transportation system,” said Athey, one of the leaders of the House’s transportation efforts. “The message we’re getting [from voters] is ‘fix it with some innovative ideas.'”<\/p>\n

GOP lawmakers held a retreat recently to talk strategy, and the end result is some decidedly new options when it comes to the state’s road problems.<\/p>\n

Republicans are going to be “coming out with some innovative and creative ways to address the problem that doesn’t involve raising taxes,” said Del. Todd Gilbert, R-Woodstock.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It remains to be seen whether their ideas will be \u201cinnovative and creative<\/a>.\u201d But who wants to wager whether the Democrats have held a retreat to discuss transportation options in light of the effective road blocking by House Republicans and the recent Mason-Dixon poll. <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t make much of the anti-tax results of the poll. I think the anti-tax bias is more from the Democrats\u2019 inability to outline the benefits of higher taxes. You can\u2019t just say, \u201cMore money equals a faster commute.\u201d People are more willing to volunteer, follow your lead or spend money — doesn\u2019t matter what — when they have some specifics. You need to outline the specific projects and expected benefits. <\/p>\n

But that would mean Democrats would need to sit around and strategize a bit. Or hold a retreat. <\/p>\n

Don\u2019t hold your breath. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week’s Mason-Dixon poll, which found weak support for higher transportation taxes, is a solid message from taxpayers and drivers, according to Del. Clay Athey, R-Front Royal. “The people of Virginia believe that we have enough money to have a fine transportation system,” said Athey, one of the leaders of the House’s transportation efforts. “The… 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\/496"}],"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=496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}