The premise of Christina Nuckols’ story in the Virginian-Pilot this morning is that “[Gov. Timothy M.] Kaine’s freshman year has gotten off to a difficult start.” Few would disagree. The question is why. For Nuckols, Kaine’s problems are mainly about personal style and legislative tactics.
Kaine has only begun to seek out allies and nurture relationships in the Republican-controlled legislature. Legislators say Kaine’s leadership style bears little resemblance to that of his predecessor, fellow Democrat Mark Warner. … Some Republicans said the governor has failed to reach out to them and has alienated them with a blitz of campaign-style automated calls. …
Although Kaine aligned himself with state senators, who shared his desire to increase investment in transportation, they clashed over strategy at times. Senators, who included a gasoline tax increase in their own plan, resented Kaine’s public statements that a fuel levy was politically unwise.
Those observations are all true — yet they miss the point. Kaine and the Senate leadership share a very different vision for Virginia government than that of the House leadership. No amount of schmoozing on Kaine’s part could have papered that over. The fact was, Kaine was heading for a show-down with the House the day he announced his taxes-for-transportation plan, and he put himself at a severe disadvantage from the very beginning because it was a plan he’d never mentioned in his campaign and he could not by any remote stretch claim a mandate for it.
If Kaine continues pushing the taxes-for-transportation plan in the upcoming special session of the General Assembly, no amount of kissy-face is going to sway the GOP delegates. Kaine would be best advised to seek areas of common ground with the House — reforming VDOT, promoting public-private partnerships, reforming land use — declare victory and start preparing for the inevitable confrontation next year over his universal pre-K plan.
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