Special session for abuser fees?
Politically speaking, it would be in Governor Kaine’s best interest to call one.
Think of it this way: with public anger fanning the flames, the abuser fees section of the transportation bill would be looked at separately, where it would go down in near-unanimous defeat. It only survived as the Republican-owned section of the omnibus bill–excised from the omnibus bill, voting for it would be political suicide. Kaine and the Democrats get to walk home with a transportation bill they can take credit for without the provision everyone loathes. Albo, Rust, and the Republicans go home without the transportation plan they wanted, and without their half of the compromise.
The public really couldn’t give a hoot about the rest of the transportation bill, to them it’s a blurry plan that somehow puts more money into roads. The public does give a hoot about funding transportation if they think it bites into their wallet–take out the Republican-owned abuser fees, and the public won’t feel a thing. They will see Democrats as bringing good solutions and Republicans as bringing horrible ones.
In short, Republicans can’t win if Kaine calls a special session, since abuser fees will almost certainly be repealed at their expense. Kaine will be hailed as the Governor who killed the abuser fees.
Kaine, Democrats win. Virginia drivers win.
In a perverse way, Dave Albo wins–Albo & Oblon may not get the extra money, but Dave Albo’s political future will look much sturdier once people forget the abuser-fee fiasco (and they will–if it’s not there to empty their wallets, it’s out of mind).
Special session now!
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[...] Both NLS and Kenton are suggesting that Gov. Kaine call legislators back into a special session so as to think again about this monstrosity of a transportation bill. This is the bill imposing excessive abusive driver fees on Virginians only. Some in Hampton Roads also know it to impose on us another layer of government, in the form of a regional government, that we the voters rejected quite overwhelmingly in 2002. There’s lots of other things like a grantors tax in there, but not too many people have had the opportunity yet to “experience” them. [...]
[...] While Tim Kaine might reap the political benefits of a special session, I suppose he’s not the one up for re-election (okay, so I was partly wrong last I wrote of this). Letting incumbent Republicans wither in the face of the anti-abuser fee onslaught might be smarter for the party as a whole. If the Democrats can continue to steer the firestorm towards the Republicans, then let the issue continue to take a life of its own. [...]