Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is hopping mad at the House of Delegates for stripping $22 million in earmarked projects for everything from day care in Charlottesville to sewage overflow in Lynchburg. He stumped the state yesterday to generate some ink castigating the House GOP for petty partisanship and… how else do I put it… for being mean. Daily Progress reporter Bob Gibson covered the Governor’s stop in Charlottesville at a day care center:
Kaine said his budget amendment would have provided child daycare scholarship money to keep working families on the job and off welfare. One mother told him she would have to stay home with children and not hold a job if daycare scholarship funds were not available.
Making mothers go back on welfare. Mean, mean, mean!
How else can you describe a General Assembly that approved a miserly $34 billion biennial General Fund budget, which, according to a June 30 press release from the Governor’s office, included (my words in parentheses):
- Record funding for K-12 education, including a four percent pay raise for teachers, and more than $1.5 billion in overall funding increases;
- A $200 million investment in the Chesapeake Bay (mostly for waste-water treatment plants);
- More than $40 million in investments in early childhood programs, including the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation, additional investments in the At-Risk Four Year Old Program, and addressing the waiting list for young children needing waiver slots…
- More than $120 million invested in community mental health and mental retardation care, including additional waiver slots for people with mental retardation and developmental disabilities and innovative services to serve people in the community rather than in institutions;
- Funding for construction of a new Eastern State Hospital and planning funds for replacement of three other mental health and mental retardation facilities (Western State Hospital, Central Virginia Training Center, and Southeastern Virginia Training Center).
I’m sorry, but if that Charlottesville daycare center were truly a priority, Gov. Kaine could have found a few thousand dollars from among the multi-millions in other spending he approved.