As Virginia Governor Mark Warner prepares to leave office and hand the state over to Tim Kaine, the Washington Post has this to say about his four years in office:
IN AN AGE of relentless partisan venom and scarce civility in public life, Mark R. Warner, the outgoing governor of Virginia, provided a new template — or revived an old one. The example he set in four years in office — at once bipartisan and resolute, managerially competent and politically astute — is a real achievement. It will stand as a model for future governors, in Virginia and elsewhere.
You’re kidding me right ? No wait, this is the Post, they’re absolutely serious.
And what was Governor Warner’s biggest achievement ?
Mr. Warner’s signal achievement, in 2004, was a package of tax reforms — including a higher sales tax, lower income tax and elimination of the food tax — that yielded $1.5 billion in additional funding over the next two years.
(….)
Mr. Warner’s signal achievement, in 2004, was a package of tax reforms — including a higher sales tax, lower income tax and elimination of the food tax — that yielded $1.5 billion in additional funding over the next two years.
The tax package was a triumph not only because of its salutary effects on the state treasury but also as an act of political statesmanship. It is important to remember the political context in which it occurred. Reversing course despite his campaign promise not to raise taxes, Mr. Warner acted at a time of financial peril in Virginia — the state was facing a $6 billion budget shortfall — and profound political polarization.
There’s only one problem with this hypothesis, there never was a budget shortfall. In fact, after the tax package was passed, it was revealed that Virginia was actually facing a surplus. Did Governor Warner reverse himself then and decide to give the people of Virginia their money back ? According to the Post, that would not be an act of statesmanship, but one wonders if it will have an impact on his ambitions for the future.
Technorati Tags: Virginia Politics, Mark Warner
