Robert F. McDonnell's transportation plan rests heavily on privatizing hard-liquor sales in Virginia. Is it sober?
Washington Post, Saturday, September 26, 2009
ROBERT F. McDONNELL, the Republican nominee for governor of Virginia, takes every opportunity to tout his 20-page, single-spaced transportation plan. But a close reading of the plan yields only disappointment.
Much of the plan relies on wildly optimistic assumptions, brazen exaggerations, gauzy projections and far-off scenarios: budget surpluses and revenue growth that may not materialize; interstate tolls that the federal government may not approve; royalties from offshore oil and gas wells that may not be drilled; borrowing that the state may not be able to afford anytime soon. Lump all that in a file called "Don't Hold Your Breath." Insert some of his other proposals -- such as diverting some sales tax revenue from schools, public safety and human services statewide to pay for Northern Virginia road improvements -- into a file called "Politically Dead on Arrival." Quite simply, much of what Mr. McDonnell has in mind would almost certainly not come to pass during his four-year term as governor, if ever.
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However, there is one idea in the McDonnell transportation program -- by far the biggest one in dollar terms -- that has attracted more favorable notices: his contention that Virginia could raise the alluring sum of $500 million simply by privatizing the state's hard-liquor sales.
The problem is, Mr. McDonnell's revenue estimates are invented or, worse, an intentional distortion.The whole editorial is here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/25/AR2009092502608.htmlSo essentially. McDonnell is a social conservative pushing made-up financial cures disguised to hide cuts to education, public safety, public health, and human services. Typical dishonest Republican?
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