Wednesday, February 20, 2008

The Third Floor Just Isn’t Good Enough

When faced with a $1 billion budget shortfall, one would assume that Senate Democrats would propose a budget that would cut spending on frivolous projects and protect core services (like the House Republicans did). WRONG! In fact, Senate D’s would have us spend $300 million in new construction on state buildings. The Washington Post has more...

So the Senate Dems are telling us that, faced with massive cuts to K-12 education, they want to spend $200 million on a new Executive Office Building, $85 million on a new Tax Department building, and $16 million on a shiny new General Assembly Building? (Note: to build a new General Assembly Building (GAB), they want to build a temporary GAB, tear down the existing one, then build another GAB, this one for permanent use.) It’s one building for the price of two, but Democrats don’t care as long as taxpayers are paying for it.

Sorry, but Saslaw, Colgan, and the rest of the tax and spenders need to get their priorities straight. We know the third floor isn’t the Taj Mahal, but it will have to do.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shouldn't Jeff Ryer and Paul Nardo know that Colgan and Saslaw's offices are on the 6th Floor, not the 3rd? Especially considering that Morgan and the Speaker's offices are adjacent to them? Who is writing this stuff for the House GOP Caucus?

Anonymous said...

I think the 3rd floor reference is to the proposed new executive office building. When referring to the executive branch, some people simply refer to the "3rd floor", meaning the 3rd floor of the Capitol, the traditional location of the Governor's office.

Richard G. Williams, Jr. said...

I agree with all you've said, but please don't let the Tax and Spend Republicans off the hook either. They built their Taj Mahal while they were in control (the underground "bunker") and passed a pretty hefty tax increase too.

Sorry, but the Senate Republicans want to be the Miller Lite version of the liberal Democrats, which is why they are now the minority party.

Anonymous said...

Gee, whenever I see pictures of Taj Mahal, I can't help but to think about Fairfax County and Gerry Connolly's versions of Taj Mahal. I agree with Richard to an extent, because the Republican party is feeling the reprocussions of being in the minority after fleeing from their conservative values, i.e. increasing taxes, pork barrel spending, etc. It is time that Republicans return back to the principles of lowering taxes, limited government and controlling government spending.

Richard G. Williams, Jr. said...

Crystal - thanks for your comment and agreeing, at least in part, with what I said. Remember that the reason Republicans have drifted that way is human nature. As Thomas Jefferson once wrote: "The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground."

Republicans, at least most of them, seem to have taken the position that "big government is ok - as long as WE are in charge." That's what happened in Congress and we've now seen the same trend it Richmond.

Anonymous said...

What about in the House budget cutting equipment for the Virginia Community College System in the tune of $27,300,000 while spending $35,444,000 on "student centers". Priorities anyone?