Jody Gets It Wrong Once Again

Once again, Lieutenant Governor candidate, Jody Wagner, can not get her facts right on Bill Bolling’s record. This time, she is attacking Bolling for protecting education dollars. Of course, her recent claims show how desperate she is to win that she would distort the truth.

Her recent email actually accuses Bolling for supporting “a rare parliamentary maneuver to block Governor Kaine’s budget.” Bolling ruled to keep the budget (which she drafted) from diverting millions in lottery proceeds away from education to other government programs, which is a violation of the Constitution of Virginia.

One might assume that Wagner is in favor of taking money away from public education, and perhaps, we should take a look at her record on education funding.

• As State Treasurer, Wagner was part of the financial team that reported a “$137 million budget error” that resulted in a loss of education dollars that were intended for local governments. ­(AP, 8.28.06)
• As Secretary of Finance, Wagner proposed a budget that took $65M out of the Lottery Proceeds Fund to pay for other government programs. The Constitution of Virginia requires that lottery profits be used for public education. Fortunately, Bill Bolling made a constitutional ruling to stop Wagner’s raid on public education. (RTD, 2.22.08)
• As Secretary of Finance, Wagner lobbied the General Assembly to cut Pre-K funding by $12.5 million, cut foster care funding by $5.8 million and cut health insurance programs by $5.7 million. (WP, 2.14.08)
• Because of Jody Wagner’s fiscal mismanagement, which has resulted in more than $7B in budget shortfalls, the Kaine administration has been forced to reduce funding for public education by $726M over the past two years. While this reduction was offset by federal stimulus dollars, these federal stimulus dollars will expire in 2011. – 2008 Budget (Chapter 879) and 2009 Budget (Chapter 781)

Why should we trust Wagner? Her understanding of the Constitution of Virginia appears to be non-existent, and she appears to be clueless on presiding over the State Senate. This (along with being overly optimistic with her budget predictions) shows Wagner is not ready to be Lieutenant Governor.