FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 25, 2008

HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER’S SOLUTION TO VIRGINIA’S TRANSPORTATION PROBLEMS:
JUST GIVE UP
Delegate Morgan Griffith Declares Transportation Talks “Dead on Arrival” and Refuses to Show Up to Meeting to Discuss Transportation

(Richmond, Va.) - Virginians throughout the Commonwealth trapped in gridlock can once again thank the Republican majority in the House of Delegates who continue to put their heads in the sand in hopes that Virginia’s transportation problems magically disappear.

House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith was quoted in the Washington Post today saying that he has given up on trying to fix Virginia’s transportation problems and did not show up to a Wednesday, April 2 meeting to find a solution:

House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith (R-Salem) said he did not even bother to show up for the second meeting with Kaine and other legislators…

“It’s dead on arrival. Until that issue is put on the backburner, I don’t see us agreeing on anything,” he said. [Washington Post, 4/25/08]

“Apparently giving up on issues critically important to Virginia is what the House Republicans consider leadership,” Senator Mary Margaret Whipple (D-Arlington), Senate Democratic Caucus chair, said.

“We have been working with the Governor and trying to work with members of the House of Delegates on the other side of the aisle to find a solution to our transportation problems. It is clear to everyone the need for a state-wide fix and these problems don’t get solved by declaring it ‘dead on arrival’ and refusing to participate in discussions,” she said.

House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong (D-Henry) was not surprised by Morgan Griffith and the House Majority’s failed leadership in fixing transportation.

“Morgan Griffith couldn’t waste his time meeting with legislative leaders to discuss transportation, but clearly has no problem wasting the time of commuters stuck in traffic in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

“Last year Republicans took the lead on a transportation plan and what they came up with was abuser fees and a plan that was ruled unconstitutional. Now we are trying to work together on a common-sense solution that will fix our transportation problems across the Commonwealth, and Morgan Griffith refuses to even show up for a meeting. This is indicative of the poor leadership the House Majority has shown over the last several sessions,” he said.

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The environment wasn’t the only victim of yesterday’s veto session - House Republicans also squashed funding for a public-private partnership that would have helped provide health insurance to low-income workers employed by small businesses.

In the video below, Del. Brian Moran explains how the pilot program would have helped lower insurance costs for all Virginians.

The amendment was defeated by a 43-53 vote.

Mere hours after Earth Day, House Republicans defeated an amendment from Gov. Tim Kaine that would have strengthened Virginia’s environmental standards for new state buildings (Raising Kaine covered the details of the amendment last week).

In the video below, Del. David Toscano explains how the LEED rating system is a “much more stringent and rigorous” approach than the watered-down standards favored by Republicans. The amendment was defeated on a near party-line vote.

As embattled House Speaker Bill Howell clings tenuously to his shrinking majority, he has attempted to lay preemptive blame for Virginia’s transportation crisis on Democrats - before a plan has even been introduced.

You’ll excuse us if his complaints ring hollow, since Bill Howell is no stranger to playing politics when he lacks the will to offer a solution.

Bill Howell on fixing transportation:

“‘It makes you wonder if, in fact, this is all to put it off to the 2009 election’ and try to use the issue to attack GOP House candidates, Howell said.” [Richmond Times-Dispatch, 4/3/08]

Bill Howell on property tax relief:

“House Speaker Bill Howell admitted to Chamber of Commerce leaders last month that a plan to discount property taxes would penalize Virginia’s businesses and harm its communities. In the same breath, however, Howell said he would do nothing to stop a bad idea from becoming law. His reasoning: ‘My guys are up for election next year.’” [Virginian-Pilot, 2/10/08]

“Republicans would not stand in the way of the proposal, Howell said, because doing so would be used against by political opponents. ‘You’ve got to look at the politics of it,’ he told a crowd of about 250 gathered at the Library of Virginia. ‘My guys are up for election next year.’” [Sun Gazette, 1/25/08]

“The Speaker of the House came to us and said, ‘We’d like you to kill this bill in the Senate.’ There was a bill in the House as well. One of my guys stood up and said, ‘You’re going to kill it in the House too, right?’ ‘Oh, no, we’re up for re-election in 2009, we can’t vote against a tax cut.’ And sure enough, they passed it.” [Sen. Tommy Norment, Virginia Gazette, 3/22/08]

Earlier today, House Democratic Leader Ward Armstrong rose on the floor to respond to Del. Terry Kilgore’s defense of last year’s disastrous, unconstitutional transportation plan, HB3202.

RICHMOND - House Democratic leaders celebrated a victory today in protecting Virginia’s education system when House Republican budget conferees ‘walked away’ from their demand to drastically reduce future funding for K-12 education. The proposed changed to the Standards of Quality would have cut $78 million from this years budget and upwards of $250 million in the next budget according to the Joint Legislative Audit Review Committee.

“Democrats stood firm in our opposition to cutting funding for public education. We sent a clear message that we will not lower per pupil spending, we will not pass the burden to localities, we will not play budget games with our children’s education and the future of our Commonwealth,” said Delegate Ward Armstrong.

The gap between the national average teacher salary and Virginia’s teacher salary has doubled in the past decade. We have fallen $6,100 per teacher behind the rest of the country. Virginia’s attorneys general have consistently supported public education and stated that our funding formula must take into account the actual costs of education.

“Today is a great victory for those who want a strong, quality public education system,” said Delegate Brian Moran. “We have successfully defeated an ill-conceived proposal that would cut education, hold back teacher salaries and drive up property taxes.”

Republican Dels. Bob Marshall and Todd Gilbert held a press conference yesterday regarding their bills to carry concealed firearms on college campuses. Specifically, they were dismayed that they did not receive the “mere courtesy” of having their bills even heard in “secret subcommittees where they kill bills without a record of votes.”

The tyranny of the GOP majority, it seems, cuts both ways:

During today’s floor session, House Republicans attempted to trump up Sen. Donald McEachin’s alternative dispute resolution measure, SB161, as an assault on Virginia’s Right to Work law.

In response, Democratic Leader Ward Armstrong introduced a floor amendment explicitly clarifying that the bill would not “affect, diminish, or repeal” the Right to Work law, in order to assuage any real concerns:

Republican Leader Morgan Griffith countered with some rather counterintuitive logic, saying that putting something into the Code of Virginia doesn’t make it law. Go figure.

In any case, the bill was only before the House in the first place as a purely political move, since the Republican leadership used their new rules gimmick to bring it directly to the floor without a recommendation. In the video below (taken earlier this week), the House Rules committee defeats Del. Kris Amundson’s motion to report SB161 as usual, prompting Del. Armstrong to express his ongoing concern with bypassing committees of expertise:

Unfortunately, House Republicans again opted for rhetoric and political gamesmanship over real solutions. SB161 died on a party-line vote.

Dels. Ward Armstrong and Brian Moran spoke on the House floor yesterday, further addressing the House GOP’s questionable math when it comes to funding public education in coming years.

The nonpartisan Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission found that the Republicans’ budget methodology would result in “$227 million less in state aid to localities for teachers’ salaries,” a change the Roanoke Times today calls a “flimflam.”

Revisions to the Standard of Quality methodology proposed by House Republicans would drastically reduce per-pupil spending in schools across the Commonwealth. You can see the reductions by school district on our interactive map here.

In the video below, Del. Kris Amundson explains her concerns with the new funding formula: