Bolling, Wagner spar on finances

Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, running for re-election, is blaming Democratic challenger Jody Wagner, a former state finance secretary, for Virginia's budget woes.

In a newspaper column and a fundraising appeal, Bolling links departing Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's former finance chief to the continuing cash crunch, faulting her for flawed revenue projections.

Firing back, Wagner criticizes Bolling for opposing bipartisan measures, including new taxes in 2004, that won Virginia accolades for fiscal discipline from Wall Street.

The Bolling-Wagner duel yesterday highlights the dominant issue of the 2009 statewide and House races: the continuing recession that is pushing up joblessness and forcing spending cuts across government.

"We all know that there is no fiscal integrity in Washington, D.C.," Bolling writes in an online appeal for donations. "Unfortunately, this type of fiscal mismanagement and budgetary gimmickry does not stop at the Potomac River."

Bolling continues, "The truth is that after four years of the Kaine/Wagner administration there is very little fiscal integrity in Richmond, either."

Wagner, treasurer under Gov. Mark R. Warner, tied Bolling to Virginia's last GOP chief executive, Jim Gilmore, whose tax-cut policies were faulted by lawmakers in both parties for a hefty cash shortfall in 2002.

"The reality is Jody Wagner and Mark Warner spent two years cleaning up the mess left by Jim Gilmore and Bill Bolling's fiscal policies," Wagner spokeswoman Elisabeth Pearson said in an e-mail.

Warner won $1.4 billion in higher taxes for education, law enforcement and welfare. Because of the increase, rating agencies affirmed Virginia's highest-possible triple-A credit designation.

Writing recently in The Washington Times, Bolling warns of more budget cuts should revenue growth miss the projected 4 percent. The state has already trimmed more than $5 billion since 2007.

A continuing shortfall, coupled with the end of federal stimulus aid in 2011, means "the next governor will likely inherit a fiscal mess," Bolling said.

Referring to plaudits for Virginia in the business press, Pearson counters:

"If Bill Bolling is wondering how we became the 'best-managed state' and earned our triple-A bond rating . . . then perhaps he should look back to the last seven years of the successful fiscal management in the Warner and Kaine administrations."

Contact Jeff E. Schapiro at (804) 649-6814 or .