GOP Doesn't Trust Kaine's Projections

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

I am writing in response to your editorial, "The Audit Dodge" -- in which you correctly point out that the Virginia Department of Transportation has been repeatedly audited since 2001. You go on to say that said audits have yielded good results in that, by the end of fiscal year 2007, per Gov. Kaine, "VDOT successfully completed almost 90 percent of projects on time and on budget."

However, you incorrectly conclude that "renewed Republican calls for transportation audits seem excuses for sloth" and you say "we are not impressed" and that the voters should not be impressed, either. Your conclusion incorrectly assumes that the primary Republican objectives of the new audit, via House Bill 6023, are the same objectives, financial and performance, of past audits.

In fact, the primary audit objective of legislation of which I was a co-patron, was to obtain as clear an independent and comprehensive assessment as possible of the true maintenance deficit, and possible solutions, before acting to address them. Gov. Kaine was doing his best misleading Chicken-Little routine by running around the state touting a current year $388-million maintenance budget shortfall in order to justify massive statewide tax increases in the middle of a recession.

The governor's economic outlook assumes Virginia's economy stays in a recession for the next 10 years. These maintenance deficit economic assumptions are much more dire than the budget economic assumptions the governor used several months ago. They are simply not credible!

Speaking of the governor's credibility, does anyone else still remember candidate Kaine's 2005 broken promises not to raise taxes unless the Transportation Trust Fund was locked up via a constitutional amendment? Given the governor's unrealistic projections and his track record on the truth, we Republicans, as good stewards for all Virginians, simply do not trust Kaine's maintenance deficit projections.

This primarily maintenance deficitbased audit is the right thing to do. Second, a financial and performance audit of VDOT's $5-billion-a-year budget will probably yield additional savings far in excess of the cost thereof and this responsible "belt tightening" is exactly what the citizens of Virginia expect from their state government.

If Kaine, his fellow Democrats, and other members of the tax-raising caucus are confident that their maintenance projections are correct and that VDOT is running effectively and efficiently, then they should embrace, not fear, this legislation.

James P. "Jimmie" Massie III, Delegate, 72nd District.

Henrico.

Stop Procrastinating And Fix the Problems

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

In response to the letter from Robert Grosz Sr., "For God's Sake, Don't Tax Us More":

As a public employee, I am truly sympathetic with his plight. Because of my wife's disability, we are a longtime, one-income family. Prices are going up and up and up. Whatever meager increases in salary I may receive, they are more than off-set by increasing prices. As sympathetic as I may be, however, I don't believe the answer is a blanket denunciation of additional taxes.

The reality is that our state's and nation's infrastructure is in desperate need of attention. While the recent focus has been on the billions of dollars needed to address transportation, additional trillions are needed for water works, sewage lines and facilities, bridges, aging and overcrowded schools, power generating and transmission facilities, and aging and failing dams and levees. The money will have to come from somewhere.

Cut spending? OK, but what and by how much? Cut just the unnecessary ones? Which ones are those? Who gets to decide which are unnecessary? Whose sheep will be shorn and whose will be turned into lamb chops?

We have a dilemma on our hands of epic proportions. It's not a matter of whether, but when and how we are going to pay for it all. Continued avoidance of the issues and decisions will only delay the inevitable.

The issue is not whether or not we raise taxes. Nor is it simply reducing spending. Rather, the issue we must address is us -- our collective procrastinating and pretending the problem will go away. Let's not continue to bury our heads in the sand and leave this matter for our children and grandchildren to resolve.

Mark Monson. Bumpass.

To Conserve Oil, Limit Mail Delivery

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

The oil shortage is a good reason to eliminate Saturday mail delivery. I have no way of calculating the savings, but I believe they would be substantial. A decision could be made quickly for immediate results. The Postal Service could use the savings to offset added fuel costs for business-day delivery.

With Priority Mail service, e-mail, and text-messaging, this should have little impact on the public.

James J. Dunlap. Rockville.