16,389 as of 0948 hrs.

Democratic nominee for the Virginia Senate; Rev. David Cox, will speak at Spotswood High School in Rockingham County on Thursday, July 19th at 7:00PM, the topic: Are Higher Traffic Fees The Right Way To Fund Transportation?. 

Come join this town hall meeting and meet the Democratic challenger to Mr. Emmett Hanger.

Meeting info and directions. 

Be sure and introduce yourself!

Bubby,
Mark Levine had George Burke on his show last night. There was a lot of good dialog including live telephone calls from a Courier, a Young Adult, and a Cab Driver. The professional drivers favored the law but thought the fact an out-of-stater couldn't be fined the same amount was unfair. George gave lots of credit to the blogger community for the uproar over the unfair fees and also for the over 70 thousand signatures on the petition. Let us know what you think about this show that we now have up on Google Video. See the entire one hour show at URL: http://video.google.... This is also a good "show and tell" on the issues around this Virginia Law (there is a temporary sound glitch from the Google video site that should be corrected by them in the next couple of hours)

Lets be careful using a conflict of interest that "may" exist with Mr. Albo as a means of defeating this.  I recall a similar issue with Gov. Kaine while Lt. Gov on so-called "personal" benefit coming from the Republican side back then.We should be defeating it on its merits, which are few. The legislators have attempted to take the easy road over addressing the real issues through very hard measures. I would also put out there that if Kaine supports this then he might as well be a  sponsor as well. This and Transportation Authority measures are flat out lazy leadership moving focus away from their inability to solve the transportation crisis and placing it on other unaccountable bodies and those that commit traffic offenses. It baffles me on the logic of putting on roads future in the hands of those whom offend.
Here a thought, make smoking in restaurants and public places completely legal but charge those establishments a yearly fee like the VABC does for beer/alcohol and use those funds exclusively for transportation and health services. Now that would take some real guts.

That's 3,300 more signatures in just 1 hour and 15 minutes since 9:34 this morning.  At that rate (3,000 per hour), this petition will be approaching 100,000 signatures by the end of tomorrow!

I haven't seen people from all sides of the political spectrum so united in a long time.  This transportation "funding" method just highlights the utter bankruptcy of the Republican controlled Virginia General Assembly.  They couldn't have shot themselves more cleanly in the foot!

And yes, if I get a traffic ticket I'm going to court, I'm fighting it, and if I lose, I'll appeal.  And I'll do it with or without a lawyer...hopefully we'll soon have court clerks, and judges registering their protests. 

Wow.

Fairness my friends. Sadly Gov. Kaine must be equally held accountable for this disgrace. He folded, blinked or whatever. Maybe he has some master plan like allowing this to blow up in the Republicans face...if so he really is smarter than people give him credit for. Until that breaks, he has to held to the same standard...he is not supporting what is best for Virginia on this one right along with the Republicans.....this whole thing merely lends me to believe that Romney had to have been quite a Governor working with an opposition governing body getting his agenda through. Not a supporter but just a thought.

Gov. Kaine did the best he could with the monstrosity that the Republican-held GA slithered through.  They wrote it. Kaine fixed it as best he could but he's no miracle worker and shouldn't be held accountable therefore. Perhaps if GOPpers hadn't been so slippery introducing this bill, he and the Dems that voted for it would be.  But the bottomline is the GOP wrote it and muscled it through. It needs to be massively overhauled come January 2008.  Let's get oust the Republican writers of it (especially Delegate John Welch in the 21st) and let's get more Democrats in there to make it right.

was for raising the fines long before the Legislature proposed these crazy amounts, and I have 3 emails to the Gov. and Abbitt to prove it and I have been against any increase in fines to pay for transportation. It is my belief taht fines should go toward education and prevention of speeding. All fines do is hurt those who cannot afford it.

When Kaine did not change it he has full responsiblilty for a bad piece of legislature.

This mornings Daily Progress had a of the best news story in a while. The voices against this crazy legislation are rising. Link below.

http://www.dailyprog...

I haven't seen anything from Governor Kaine suggesting that he envisioned $3000 dollar traffic Civil Remedial Fees like the Republican majority legislature gave him.

Kaine was raising fees to $3,000. I said he wanted to increase traffic fines. Here is the proof that he opened the door to the crazy Republicans for the outlandish fees.

>>>>>>From Va for Better Transportation Newsletter >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
Gov. Kaine Announces 2007 Legislative Initiative On Transportation

- Package includes land use, accountability and revenue proposals -

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine yesterday announced a revised $850 million package of transportation policy and funding proposals that he will submit for consideration by the 2007 General Assembly. The package seeks to better link land use to transportation, increases accountability and performance standards among the Commonwealth's transportation agencies, and identifies sustainable, dedicated transportation funding.

According to the release, "for the typical citizen, one who does not purchase a vehicle or commit repeated traffic offenses, the Governor's revised $850 million transportation revenue package will cost approximately $15 each of the next two years, and approximately $20 each year after that."

As part of the package, Gov. Kaine will ask the 2007 General Assembly to give local governments the power to deny rezoning requests when there is not enough transportation capacity to support the increase in traffic.

The package also addresses the approximately $450 million annually that will be taken from highway construction and put into maintenance, as well as the approximately $120 million annually that also will be taken from highway construction to repay the approximately $1.1 billion in debt issued against future federal revenues since year 2000.

The Governor's legislative initiative:

Permanently dedicates existing auto insurance premium taxes to transportation, a law enacted in 2000 but only followed twice.

Equalizes the sales tax on vehicles to equal the sales tax for other non-food items. Virginia's current 3 percent motor vehicle sales and use tax rate is 44th lowest in the country.

??????Imposes an abuser fee on motorists who drive under the influence, drive recklessly, or commit certain other offenses.?????????

Increases the registration fee for vehicles from the current $29.50 to $44.50 in 2007, and $49.50 in 2010.

Increases the registration fee on heavy trucks, commensurate with the increase on automobiles.

There is another petition that was started earlier that hasn't gotten much attention - you can find it here

Verrry interesting.

After you've gone through the process, it asks you to click on an amount.  This is probably the reason not too much response.  Maybe there's a way to get around the contribution screen and sign the petition.

Check this out (bolding added for emphasis):

For the past couple of weeks we?ve been beating the war drums over the new abuser (abusive?) driver fees enacted by the General Assembly. These traffic fees of $750, $900, $1,050, $2,250 and even $3,050 have touched off a grassroots revolt, not least because out-of-state drivers are exempt from having to pay. If you?re wondering why that is, the reason is simple: The Virginia Constitution mandates that revenue from traffic fines must go to the Literary Fund, which helps pay for new school construction. The General Assembly wanted to raise money for transportation so it had to enact these outrageous levies as a type of licensing fee. By their very nature, such fees cannot apply to out-of-state drivers. They can?t even be assessed against illegal immigrants, another thing to consider should you end up getting stuck with a bill.

The sponsor of the ?civil remedial fee? bill is Delegate David Albo of Northern Virginia, a Republican lawyer who makes a ton of money defending clients in traffic court. Since this new law almost certainly guarantees that more people will contest their tickets, you could say Albo?s bill is a case of political self-dealing at its finest. Nice work if you can get it.

Given the uproar, we predict it?s only a matter of time before legislators start distancing themselves from this fiasco. Just some idiotic idea by a guy from Fairfax County, right? But a few days ago, the umpteenth mention of Dave Albo spurred a recollection of having read an article about some of his closest friends a year or two ago. The piece appeared in the October 23, 2005 edition of The Richmond Times-Dispatch. Excerpts are below:

Del. David B. Albo's campaign song could be The Beatles' classic, "With a Little Help From My Friends."

Albo is battling for the House seat he has held since 1994 against Democrat Gregory Werkheiser, who narrowly trails the Fairfax County Republican in fundraising.

But Albo's Capitol colleagues have come to his aid, providing almost one-fifth of the nearly $376,000 he reported raising as of Sept. 30. The lawmakers have pumped about $75,000 into his campaign, a sum that's sure to swell in the upcoming days until the Nov. 8 election ?.

The Dominion Leadership Trust, the political-action committee of House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, had put nearly $146,000 into House races this year through Sept. 30, with $25,000 of that benefiting Albo. OneVirginia, the political-action committee of Democratic Gov. Mark R. Warner, has pumped $367,000 into the contests, including $25,000 to Werkheiser.

Albo's drawing more than money. Last weekend, three Republican delegates from Southside ? Robert Hurt of Pittsylvania County, Clarke N. Hogan of Halifax County and Daniel W. Marshall III of Danville ? went to Fairfax to stump for him, going door to door and bringing him a check for $500 from their political-action committee.

"We don't have opponents, and Dave has always been such a good friend to us," said Hurt, who's also donated $1,000 to Albo ?.

Best Friends Forever: Hogan, Hurt, Marshall and Albo. Remember that the next time you or someone you know gets knocked up by these new fees.

It's almost doubled today - no doubt will within the hour.  I've been passing it along to friends outside the political world/blogosphere and encouraging them to pass it along as well.

The only thing that's bad about this effort is that it may work and the thing will be repealed before November - and people won't be quite as motivated to vote against the Republicans responsible for this mess.

The General Assembly is out of session until January 2008.

pass resolutions in opposition to them then.

I'm going to contact my committee about this.

Luv ya', Lowell!

30,000 signatures in one day. 

Keep spreading the word about this petition and maybe those Republicans will cook up a few more excuses for how these fees miraculously appeared in their transportation bill.  That's good entertainment and enough signatures might actually get a message through their thick skulls.

is threatening a lawsuit:

http://www.dailyprog...

according to our paper here.

...prize goes to the party which figures out how to get credit for killing this insane law.  No doubt all the players are tripping over themselves trying to get an angle on it right now.

  Recently on WTOP Governor Kaine placed the blame for the new driver abuser fees on Delegates Albo and Rust. However, these abuser fees were promoted greatly by the Governor from the beginning of the Transportation Package negotiations. I just wanted to set the record straight on who was a vocal supporter of these abuser fees.

  From his Aug 28, 2006 Money Committee Address:
  Both Houses agree on abuser fees. The dangerous behavior of unsafe drivers threatens the safety of other drivers and causes accidents that create congestion. Those drivers should be financially accountable for their actions.
  http://www.governor....

  From his Jan 10, 2007 State of the Commonwealth address:
  Both houses agree that abusive drivers should pay stiffer fines to be used for transportation needs. To solve our funding dilemma, I have proposed a basic transportation financing package. Three elements of the package?proper use of existing auto insurance premium taxes, charges to abusive drivers and a commitment to using surplus dollars for transportation?require no new revenues from law-abiding citizens.
  http://www.governor....

  From his first transportation plan, six days into office 2006:
  This plan includes enhanced fees for abusive drivers .
  http://www.governor....

  From his transportation plan announced Jan 2007:
  Imposes an abuser fee on motorists who drive under the influence, drive recklessly, or commit certain other offenses.
  http://www.governor....

  2006 Legislation introduced at the request of the Governor including SB 722 DMV; assessment of fees on certain drivers, use of fees collected.
  http://leg1.state.va...

  So as you can see, Kaine hasn?t been honest with us when he says he knows little about this.

...like, at least once?  I think we've been through this like, a zillion times already.  Where in this does Kaine talk about applying the abusive fees to regular drivers, not just to the worst of the worst?  Sorry, that was Dave Albo and Tom Rust's brilliant idea, pushed through the REPUBLICAN-controlled House of Delegates and rammed down the REPUBLICAN-controlled Senate's throat.  But yeah, keep trying to change the subject.  Luckily, the voters of Virginia are a lot smarter than you give them credit for.

Who really cares. I am a proud Democrat and would vote for Gov. Kaine as often as he runs, but I want to hold any politcian accountable.

All these articles show is Kaine's hands are not clean and his ideal of making certain people suffer to pay for roads, we all use, is not signs of fair thinking. All I want is cleaning up anyones faulty opinion about fairness to support transportation.

This certain areas can raise taxes to support there area is utterly redicules. I live in Rural VA, but use the roads in Hampton and the WA beltway quite often and I want to pay my fair share, but not in some redicules user fee that will create a hardship on a retired individual.

Now I have to drive down the road worrying ever minute if I happen to forget myself and drive over a certain speed that I will be a reckless driver. Yeah I am a reckless driver? Have not had any traffic violation since 1970, but that could change tommorrow?????

Creigh will hear this afternoon about changing his vote to support this bill, when a previous email said he would not. This "Gov. tweeked the bill and then a yes vote" for a piece of junk doesnot buy it with me.

quit being so damned rabid about the Lower Priced Spread.  Kaine showed his true colors on this abomination today and all the all-upper-case vitriolic postings won't change it.  You are hurting your own cause with such a narrow-minded stance.  Even Moses made mistakes and Tim Kaine ain't Moses!

And I completely disagree with what he did today.  If you noticed, I also urged Gov. Kaine many times to veto the transportation bill.  But that doesn't change the facts of who voted for the abuser fees.  Overwhelmingly, Republicans in the House of Delegates were for it and Democrats against it.  That's not "narrow minded," it's just the truth.

There was an article in today's Post about GOP lawmakers considering a reassessment of the fees in January.  I think it was particularly revealing about the divide between what Governor Kaine thinks about abuser fees and what Delegates Albo and Rust think about the abuser fees.

Albo and Rust's rationale for the fees:

*consider the abuser fees a novel "voluntary tax."
*think "if you don't break the law then you shouldn't have a problem with their bill."
*chose abuser fees as a mechanism for funding transportation because they thought it would be more popular than raising the gas tax.

Governor Kaine:

*thinks abuser fees for people who drive dangerously will make our roads safer to drive on.

The amazing thing for me about Governor Kaine is that even when I disagree with him, I can at least respect and admire the principles behind his point of view.  While the GOP unabashedly admits that the whole point behind the abuser fees is to fleece the flock without being blamed for raising taxes, Governor Kaine's talking about public safety.  I disagree with him in that I don't think a law can really promote public safety if it doesn't apply fairly and equally to every driver on the road, but at least I know his heart's in the right place.

No one can say the same thing for Albo and Rust--not even Albo or Rust.

Here's a quote from today's Potomac News, where he explains that everyone seems to be confused:

"In fact this falsehood is part of a blog-based misinformation campaign to distort the facts."  Ah, that clears everything up. 

Here's the link:
http://www.potomacne...

Barbara, #28,398

Blaming everybody but themselves for their own actions, in this case raising taxes in a sneaky, underhanded way.  What a bunch!

In the end my friends this will go down as a tax hike for Kaine will it not. He is Governor for Gods sake. It peeves me that people are asking us to give him a pass, why cuz he's a nice guy. He took our votes and sucker punched us on this issue. What does it say about us when we propose to let it slide and not do something about it in January after the Fall elections.
I find it ironic that all the efforts of the petitions that I have seen seem focused on sending Republicans a message....will someone please deliver it to the Executive Mansion. No way in hell Warner allows this on his watch. No way in hell. Oh the days.

I hope you bring this posting back to the top of the list. It needs 200,000 signatures. And we need to hold the Republicans Responsible. I believe we have smart Democrats and they will take care of them selves.

Everyone is intittled to a mistake but not an entire Political Party.

Lowell,

You need to change the title of ths posting.  It shouldn't say "15,000" anymore, but the new number:  50,000 and rising. 

Lisa

promotion area at the top of the post.  I think it's cleaner than constantly changing the diary title. 

the red highlight be in a larger font?

perspective.  When Lowell first posted last week the number was 15K - it's impressive to see how much it's grown in just the past week!

n/t

Read what two right-wing Republicans, Jeff Frederick and Bob Marshall, have to say about the abusive abuser fees.  Also, I'm hearing that anti-tax Republicans are very angry at the fact that their party pushed this thing, and believe it could do major damage to Republican candidates in November's elections. I sure hope they're right!

it was a "drafting error"
bwabwahahhahhaaaaaa
Yeh RIGHT.

1) The House Republicans are incompetent.
2) The House Republicans knew exactly what they were doing.
3) A little bit of both?

And now, our REAL choice:  do we want these Republican flat earthers continuing to control the Virginia General Assembly, or do we want to give Mark Warner/Tim Kaine Democrats a shot at Moving Virginia Forward?  Gee, tough choice huh? :)

We drove back from alabama last thursday( Nice vacation) and i noticed something our republican  friends set up.

The virginia drivers were following the law, and the out of staters, not worrying ablout the 3000$ fees, were blowing past us at 100 mph. This is a recipe for huge diaasters, as the safest driving is when everybody is going the same speed

At one point yesterday as many as 1,000 people were signing this online petition PER HOUR.

Great job to Mr. Ault for starting this petition and for everyone on the blogs who helped publicize it.  If y'all were collecting signatures any faster, the state legislature would have assessed a $3,000 fee on you for your abuse of the intertubes.

for a while.  That's amazing.

I think the petition will probably be able to get even more than 200,000 signers. 

Albo says...

"If someone else can come up with $65 million that is not a tax increase, I am more than happy to repeal it,"

The WAPO article follows up with...

A one-cent increase in the gasoline tax, which has not been raised since 1986, would generate about $50 million a year.

ONE CENT!  This is what Albo and his Republican cohorts are all worked up about?  Earth to flat-earth: Gasoline prices are hovering around $3 per gallon.  One cent is a rounding error.

And since the tax is a flat amount per gallon sold, an increase of one red penny wouldn't even off-set 20 years worth of inflation.

Lowell, you state:

The bill's sponsor, Del. David Albo (R- 42nd District) is a partner in a law firm that specializes in traffic court cases and stands to benefit personally from this legislation. This type of conflict of interest should not be tolerated.

How do you feel about Connolly working for SAIC and participating in making decisions (or even leading the process for decisions) that will benefit SAIC which in turn benefits him personally. Should this type of conflict of interest by tolerated? 

and applies to David Albo (R-42nd).  In general, I believe that all politicians should adhere to high standards of ethical conduct.

Be aware that what you're going through is not news to people of other states including Michigan.

Please ALSO be aware that an attorney in Michigan has already filed suit in the MI supreme court to have our law thrown out as among other things, an unconstitutional tax. If successful, it could set a precedent for other states with such similar "bad driver tax" laws. Too bad it's taken 3 YEARS before this has had to happen, because legislators here refuse to repeal it even with bills in the house to do so. Our governor refuses to repeal unless other "pocket picking" initiatives can be produced to replace it.

Legislative hearings were held last year with testimony from judges and drivers on just how asinine this type of law is. It's gotten to the point where some judges refuse to accept guilty please that would incur these fines. Instead they tell prosecutors to lower the offense charge. Judges are DISGUSTED and fed up with this law. I also have the text on those legislative hearings, including just how negatively it impacts people in NJ, where this type of law originated. To put it bluntly, it is a failure in every state. The money collected isn't even half of what is owed or was projected by these pick pocket legislators. It's just a tax grab with negative consequences. And everything bad that was predicted from this type of law, has come true in every state it's in.

Atty. Henry Guikema
125 Ottawa Ave NW #333
Grand Rapids MI 49503
616-235-2601

Brief filed with the court explaining the stupidity of this law
http://woodtv.triton...
http://woodtv.triton...

Wood tv 8 news video on trying to repeal our law
http://video.woodtv....
http://video.woodtv....

Bill Howell (radical right wing Republican HOD-28) is already opposed by Democratic candidate Clyde Matthews

Contribute to Clyde's campaign via ActBlue

People... this petition is a bold move, in the unofficial direction.

THEY DON'T CARE!!

It has no legal merit unless it is a HAND SIGNED petition. For all they know it could be the same guy online, signing 130,000 times. And even then the only way you can fight this is by starting a LAWSUIT in Federal court or the Supreme court.

And Michigan is already doing that, and if it fails there, then it goes to the TOP Supreme court. You're blowing hot steam in the wrong direction.