At least one of the new crop of Republican governors is into socialism (because that’s what we call infrastructure spending in a bad economy, right?). Bob McDonnell will sign a $4 billion transportation act that passed the House on Friday and the Senate yesterday:
The governor’s plan uses $3 billion in state debt, plus another $1 billion in federal bonds, to fund approximately 900 road, rail and bridge projects across the Commonwealth.
McDonnell lauded the vote as a step toward the most significant investment in transportation infrastructure since the 1980s. But he admitted, the proposal is a start, rather than a long-term solution to Virginia’s monstrous struggle to build and maintain roads. (Emphasis mine)
Looking at Virginia DOT’s list of the nine hundred projects (.PDF), most appear to be repairs and improvements — both of which produce more jobs than new roads, bridges, etc. No matter how you dress it up, this is just as much of a stimulus bill as ARRA ever was. Will the Virginia tea party wave pictures of McDonnell with a Hitler mustache? Apparently, that will only happen if he spends money to make cities walkable:
Ironically, “Urban Development Areas” were pioneered by state Republicans to lift regulations such as minimum setbacks and maximum units per acre under certain circumstances. The state requires every county to establish an Urban Redevelopment Area, within which zoning restrictions on density may be relaxed. The areas do not impose any hard-and-fast mandates in the other direction, such as minimum density or maximum parking requirements.
Nevertheless, the policy has inflamed the state’s Tea Party officials, who have characterized it as a plot by “eco-extremists” to establish “feudalistic transit villages.” (Emphasis mine)
If you needed proof that tea parties are dominated by idiots — or that Republicans weren’t opposed to the ARRA stimulus package on any real principle, but only because they were against the president — this should be enough.
