WaPo endorses Kaine!!

The Washington Post has endorsed Tim Kaine for governor. The WaPo cites the Warner-Kaine administration's fiscal responsibility in resolving the Commonwealth of Virginia's fiscal crisis. This crisis started during the Allen and Gilmore administrations. Both of the previous governors were Republican fiscal conservativescredit card conservatives. They left schools, infrastructure and public safety underfunded. The Washington Post has this to say about Jerry Kilgore:

It's easy, now that Virginia -- like many other states -- is running a substantial budget surplus, to lose sight of the importance of that decision. Republicans who opposed the tax overhaul point to the surplus and insist that raising taxes last year was unnecessary. But those same Republicans, including Mr. Kilgore, are only too happy to spend the new revenue whose collection they so bitterly opposed: on public schools, public safety and, recently, as part of an $848 million transportation package. None of them, including Mr. Kilgore, publicly dispute the fact that Virginia's top-notch AAA bond rating, in place for more than half a century, was safeguarded by the 2004 tax overhaul. And neither Jerry Kilgore nor most of his GOP colleagues appear to be planning a serious move to roll back the tax package, despite occasional wistful talk to the contrary. Their position amounts to plain cynicism.

I never met a Republican that didn't like to whip out my son's credit card to pay for spending now. Hey let's just use the Bank of East Asia credit card and stick phinky's son with the bill. Nice.

Jerry Kilgore says he would propose an amendment to the state constitution requiring that voters approve, via referendum, any increase in state sales, income or gas taxes. Not only is this an abdication of leadership -- governors and lawmakers are elected to make these decisions, not hand off tough calls to statewide votes -- it is also a recipe for disaster that would tie the state's hands in the inevitable economic downturns.

Back in the 1970's California tried the same thing. It was called Prop 13. It was a disaster for the public schools of California.

In an emergency, he would allow the governor, with the backing of two-thirds of each house of the General Assembly, to raise taxes temporarily, for a year. And what if the economic slump lasted for more than a year? That's not in Jerry Kilgore's playbook; he leaves Virginians to guess that he would simply choke off public schools, health programs, social services and public safety.

And that's what happened in California.

Both Mr. Kaine and Jerry Kilgore have proposed various spending programs without explaining how they would be paid for, but in Jerry Kilgore's case the hypocrisy is more extreme. The benefits, bonuses and tax credits he promises amount to financial fantasy. Taking him at his word, he would spend profligately and strangle the state's supply of revenue.

I think it is time to expose fiscal conservatism for the myth that it is. Republicans really are credit card conservatives.

Updated to google bomb Jerry Kilgore