Law Enforcement
GILMORE RHETORIC: Gilmore claims that he was able to “invest in public safety… by careful investing” [Daily Press, 7/1/08].
REALITY: The Republican-led Senate Finance Committee said his 2001 budget proposal would “weaken” Virginia’s public safety [Report of the Subcommittee on Public Safety, 2/4/01].
More:
The report said: “for the first time in our memory, we sense in the proposed budget a lessening of the commitment to public safety.”
We have concluded that these reductions would weaken the commitments Virginia has made in several critical areas:
• Leading the fight against drug trafficking and violent crime;
• Reducing the backlog of DNA testing in our forensic laboratory;
• Reducing the backlog of state prisoners in local jails;
• Improving education and treatment for offenders; and,
• Strengthening emergency preparedness.
GILMORE RHETORIC: Gilmore claimed that because his car-tax plan was only 2.5% of the state budget, it did not impact spending on public safety:
Gilmore fired back that the tax cut – the signature initiative of his governorship from 1998 to 2002 – had no impact on law-and-order spending.
Gilmore strategist Dick Leggitt described McCabe’s claim as “absurd on its face,” saying the car-tax plan consumed only 2.5 percent of the state budget during Gilmore’s term.
[Times-Dispatch, 7/2/08]
REALITY: According to Times-Dispatch columnist Jeff Schapiro, Gilmore’s car-tax plan was 4% of the state budget and it “drain[ed] cash from other priorities.”
Though it’s yet to be fully implemented because of the rotten economy, car-tax relief – Gilmore’s marquee initiative – costs about $1 billion annually.
That’s roughly 4 percent of the total budget. It wouldn’t seem a hefty figure, at least not to Gilmore’s apparent target audience: those unfamiliar with the structure of Virginia’s budget and the increasing demands placed upon it.
. . .
Gilmore’s ownership of the car-tax issue should also include responsibility for its consequences. Repeal, financed in good times with an economic expansion, in bad times with spending cuts, is draining cash from other priorities. That’s something Gilmore once pledged to avoid.
[Jeff Schapiro, Times-Dispatch, 12-15-02]