we in virginia pride ourselves on our fiscal rectitude, being a low-tax, right-to-work state with a AAA bond rating that's one of the most hospitable destinations for business. so it's no surprise that our governor, the next vice president of the US, bob mcdonnell, is trumpeting how much cash we've got:
Gov. Bob McDonnell announces $544.8 million budget surplus for FY11 - dailypress.com: RICHMOND – Gov. Bob McDonnell announced today that the commonwealth has a $544.8 million dollar budget surplus for the past fiscal year due to a combination of better than expected revenue and savings and savings from state agencies.
Speaking to the General Assemblies joint money committees, McDonnell said the state added $244.1 million in savings from state agencies to the $310.7 million revenue surplus he announced last month to come up with the more than half billion dollar figure.
now, last time our esteemed general assembly met, the legislators came to loggerheads -- as they always do -- over the question of how to pay for transportation improvements. the word that caused so much consternation and gnashing to teeth was -- wait for it -- taxes. as all good republicans everywhere know, you don't raise taxes, regardless of the purpose or necessity.
so governor bob and his cohort took a page straight out of the reagan playbook: they decided to borrow a half-billion dollars to get the job done! that's the borrow-and-spend GOP way!
now that they've come up with this $500 million windfall, are they going to use the money for some productive purpose? how about for starters they pay back the $610 mil they owe the state employees' pension fund? that is, before they decide to give it to their political cronies who like the "business climate" here in the old dominion...
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