Republicans and Democrats are attacking each other over taxes and electricity rates in Virginia's race for governor.
On behalf of Bob McDonnell, the Republican Governors Association is running radio and television advertisements criticizing Democrat R. Creigh Deeds for favoring higher gasoline taxes.
Deeds, a state senator from Bath County, voted for bills that would have raised the gasoline tax to pay for road improvements.
Countering the Republican Governors Association ad, Deeds spokesman Jared Leopold said that McDonnell, unlike Deeds, opposed rolling back the sales tax on groceries.
Deeds has a TV commercial in Southwest Virginia attacking McDonnell forsupporting higher electricity rates for one of the region's big utilities, Appalachian Power Co. The ad says McDonnell recommended a total of $180 million in rate increases for the utility while he was attorney general.
In response, McDonnell said the State Corporation Commission approves rate increases, not the attorney general's office. The office represents consumers in rate proceedings.
Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, who is running for re-election against Democrat Jody Wagner, has started his first TV commercial of the campaign. It emphasizes his background and his proposal to redirect $484 million in public education funding from administrative spending to classroom spending. The ad is running only in the Norfolk television market.
Meanwhile yesterday, McDonnell, Bolling and state Sen. Ken Cuccinelli of Fairfax County, the GOP candidate for attorney general, found little to like in President Barack Obama's health-care plan, which the president outlined in an address to Congress on Wednesday night.
McDonnell called the speech "passionate and eloquent" but said the plan would not hold down health-care costs, as promised.
The three candidates said Virginia's government could play a role in health-care reform by ferreting out waste and abuse, keeping the state's medical-malpractice rates low, and providing incentives to encourage more people to become doctors and nurses. They praised Obama's emphasis on wellness but said increasing the federal government's role in health care would push up health-care costs.
"More government is usually not the best solution," Cuccinelli said in a conference call with reporters. He is running against Del. Stephen C. Shannon, D-Fairfax.
Cuccinelli said the state needs to adopt better performance standards for Medicaid. The three agreed that little could be done to achieve savings through tougher eligibility requirements for Medicaid. The state already has some of the toughest standards in the nation, Bolling said.
Also yesterday, McDonnell and Deeds made back-to-back appearances in McLean, touting their business plans at a forum of the Potomac Officers Club, a group of corporate executives.
Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or twhitley@timesdispatch.com.
Staff writer Jeff E. Schapiro contributed to this report.
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