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Kaine reflects on term Date published: 1/2/2010
BY CHELYEN DAVIS
Four years ago, Tim Kaine was planning his inauguration, proposing a transportation overhaul, and expecting, perhaps, to preside over four years of a relatively normal economy. Instead, he got the worst recession since the Great Depression, a term full of largely unsuccessful fights with the General Assembly over transportation funding, and one of the worst school shootings in America. Money for roads, or the lack thereof, is the biggest disappointment of his term, Kaine said. "I fought with the legislature three out of my four years, and we do not have money for roads," he said. Two of those years involved special sessions and protracted, bitter battles over increasing revenue. Kaine had allies among Senate Republicans, but found his proposals thwarted in the House, where Republicans opposed raising taxes. Nevertheless, Kaine, who leaves office Jan. 16, says he has no regrets, and views his term positively. "I tend not to think about things like that," Kaine said in an interview at the Governor's Mansion. "I would have loved to have had a great economy. But my lot was to be the leader of the state in the toughest economy since the 1930s." Since taking office, Kaine says he's made about $7 billion in cuts to the state budget as the economy worsened. His outgoing budget contains another $2 billion in cuts. Asked what he's most proud of accomplishing, Kaine lists expansion of pre-K programs, reforms to the mental health system (after one of the great tragedies of his term, the 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech), open space preservation, and the ban on smoking in bars and restaurants. That smoking ban, which took effect in December, was the result of a compromise with House Republicans, a not-very-frequent occurrence on high-profile issues in Kaine's term. Kaine says his goal when he took office was to make Virginia the best state in the nation--for business, for education, etc.--and he believes that has happened. "I feel like I can walk out of here and say, Virginia is leading the nation," Kaine said. "That makes me feel good." He also claims as a success the changed political landscape in Virginia. When Kaine took office, both houses of the legislature were led by Republicans, both U.S. senators were Republicans, and most congressmen were Republican.
is a man with not only a plan but a good plan in fixing the roads by selling the ABC stores and putting tolls on the North Carolina border without raising taxes. With Kaine Virginia's unemployment rate soared to 7.3%, Just to give you some comparison when Gilmore was governor it was 2%. The Warner/Kaine era is finally over and Virginia can try to rebuild itself..
We're still better off than most states, I'd say that means he didn't do a terrible job. Besides, who knows if McDonnell is any better.
He takes the federal stimulus $ and then dumps the increased
spending & revenue shortfall on McDonnell. Hang on to your
wallets.
in a series. GAWK.
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