Gov. Kaine cites concerns on Virginia’s budget, roads

RICHMOND, Va. -- Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's term expires in less than two months, but that doesn't mean he's leaving behind his concerns about the future of the commonwealth.

In a meeting yesterday with the Richmond Times-Dispatch's editorial board, Kaine voiced concerns that lawmakers confronted with the tough budget he's crafting for the next two fiscal years will shrink from some of the sacrifices it will require to keep the state fiscally sound in a tough economy.

"One worry I would have is, will the legislature bite down and do some unpopular things that will keep Virginia in a good fiscal place, or will they try to switch out unpopular decisions for kind of the short-term things" like across-the-board cuts, Kaine said.

The governor said his budget team has cut state spending by $7 billion from roughly $80 billion in state spending since mid-2007 and never made across-the-board cuts. Kaine, instead, opted for performance-based cuts that took less funds from certain items such as public education, pre-kindergarten funding and the preservation of open space.

"It's not a math problem, it's a judgment problem," Kaine said. "Everything ought to be weighed in terms of performance and priority . . . and I'm worried a little bit that what everybody won't like they won't do, and then we'll just do across-the-boards instead."

Kaine said the fiscal 2011-12 budget he will present to lawmakers in mid-December will not please either party.

"It's going to have a lot of things that Democrats don't like, and it's going to have a lot of things that Republicans don't like," Kaine said. He declined to provide specifics.

"I don't mind being unpopular," he added. "It's going to be a budget with a lot of unpopular decisions."

The governor also said he was worried that lawmakers would wait until a catastrophe occurred to come together to solve the state's transportation crisis.

"I'm a little concerned about the transportation system being an example of a problem we are aware of but we're not solving until some big, horrible evacuation, you know, that couldn't be done, or a bridge that collapses, or something like that," Kaine said. "I'll feel bad because we've had plenty of warning."

And Kaine also said he was "very, very nervous" that his executive order banning discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation, and vetoes of bills that would expand the death penalty and allow guns in bars, would be undone by the incoming administration of Republican Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell.

"I really was proud to do that [executive order] and put sexual orientation into it for the first time, and Bob has pledged that he's not going to do that, and that concerns me," Kaine said.

"My persistent vetoes were definitely in expansions of the death penalty and guns in bars," he added. "I think you have to assume that both of those bills, if they pass, they'll continue to pass, and you're not really likely to see vetoes" from McDonnell, he said.

Contact Jim Nolan at (804) 649-6061 or .