The Washington Post has an article on the GOP’s plan to overturn the abuser fees. The money quote:
“We lost the confidence of the people on this issue, and we need to fix it,” [Virginia Beach State Senator Ken] Stolle said.
I’d agree with that statement 😉
But the GOP proposal falls short of getting rid of the fees. From House Democratic Caucus chair Brian Moran:
The Republican proposals continues to unfairly tax Virginians, drive many middle class residents in cycles of debt, and force our cops to be tax collectors. It’s not time to mend these fees, it’s time to end them.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
K Stolle is trying to save his brother’s campaign-too little too late-Go JOE!!
Oh yeah, like Brian Moran’s gas tax increase isn’t going to affect the middle class.
sheesh
I agree with va breeze. Though I don’t think Sen. Stolle was ever enthusiastic about the bill, he was willing to shrug and say “it was the best that we could do.” Now he’s realizing that it could lose his brother’s campaign.
The problem is, Chris Stolle is on record on one of the Virginia Beach talk shows saying that the transportation solution wasn’t that bad (I think it was said during the primary). So he can’t really flip on that without looking bad.
Here’s an assignment for anyone who cares enough: go back a few years and collect the predictions of Armageddon from all the Republicans who went on and on about how much harm a 5 or 10 cent (or whatever) gas tax would do. You remember them, telling us we’d be living in Mad Max’s world in short order.
Then go track the actual increase in gas prices since that time.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
Not true. Here’s how you do it. You say “You know, I really thought that was the way to go. But you know, after hearing from the public, and taking a good hard look at the issue, I realize that it’s was the wrong solution, and now it’s time to change tack.”
That simple. Of course, that won’t happen. Instead we’ll get some half-assed mumbled excuse that doesn’t amount to anything, and the party will ask that everyone pretend that there’s nothing to see here folks, just move along. And *that* will look bad. But it will also look like business as usual.
I’m happy with this. My complaint was never about the high cost of these fines (seriously, anyone driving more than 20 miles over the speed limit doesn’t just deserve a fine, but also a smack upside the head for being so idiotic); my complaint was always that it only applied to Virginia drivers.
In the end, if people do not like these new fines, there is one simple way to avoid them; drive responsibly. Having to deal with traffic in Northern Virginia every day, this is a lesson that many people around here could learn.
And why is nobody talking about the fact that Tim Kaine was completely on board with the fees ?
Does Stolle have a female relative named Siobhan (now Siobhan Stolle Dunnavant) appointed to the Virginia Maternal and Child Health Council by Gov. Gilmore in 2001?
I think you have us at an advantage in terms of obscure knowledge of possible Stolle relatives with incredibly-Irish names, Mouse; I couldn’t tell ya. 🙂
Doug, because the Rs already lost that argument by pre-emptively taking all the credit, and because Tim Kaine’s name isn’t on the ballot.
Other questions?
The GOP are scattering around like lights hitting the cockroaches. In Washington and Richmond, they have proven time and again they are incapable of basic governance due to a blind devotion and rigidity to ideological purity.
The GOP brand is an anathema to a large majority of Virginians. We only hope the will pay the appropriate price at the ballot box for a decade or more.
But then again, “look over there….homosexuals are lurking, vote republican”.