The tax issue is my only real gripe with Warner. Gilmore dropped ball also - he had the public support to repeal the car tax and settled for a real half baked non-win. We still have the car tax.
The legislature is the problem - curiously the same Republicans who vote for higher taxes are non-responders to VCDL surveys also. A lot also getr NRA A ratings.
A little background on me so maybe you understand a bit more where I am coming from............I've only lived in Virginia since 2003, although we had made the decision to move here in 2000. So I am still learning the ins and outs of the politics of VA.......but I am no novice to state politics - I spent 20 years earning a living dealing with them in Delaware, first in radio as a reporter and then as a lobbyist.
Corin Stormhands has been a godsend to me with giving me links to places where I can learn. I showed up in Delaware for my first job in radio 10 DAYS before the 1982 election - talk about having to take some crash courses and trial by fire.
Anyway, I can't tell you how many candidate surveys I sent out over the years for various groups that I rarely got responses from.......it is very discouraging. The really sad thing about those that did respond - not a single one ever voted the way they said they would on the survey.
Many folks on FR probably think I should be opposing Kilgore because of the job his wife just recently resigned from.........can't think of the title right now, but it is funded by cigarette taxes to make continue pushing the idea that smokers are 2nd class citizens. My position regarding tobacco and those that choose to use it has been known since the day I signed up here - but I have NEVER been a one issue person.
I know this is rather disjointed, and probably makes no sense - but in a nutshell I can understand VCDL being upset Kilgore didn't respond to the survey - but it makes no nevermind to me. The fact he doesn't seem to be asking the staff member who made, what I consider to be, an out of line comment about someone at VCDL an apology, is a problem and I'm not happy about that.
(please note, I am only pinging Corin because I am mentioning him)
FWIW, (and I've said this often on FR), the "No Car Tax" promise was good politics, bad policy. It never really eliminated the car tax. All it did/does is have the state pick up the percentage you don't have to pay.
That said, Gilmore didn't have a choice but to slow down the phase out. The recession and 9/11 hit while he was still Governor. Then the RATS and the RINOS started harping out the budget deficit...which never existed.
Projected revenues were down. But spending still went up, just by a smaller percentage.