Jody Wagner, Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor, released her first TV ad citing that she has actually balanced the budget. Where did she pull that claim from? Was it from the so-called Lieutenant Governor’s Mansion or thin air?
Perhaps, it is time to shed some light on Ms. Wagner’s claim. While serving as Secretary of Finance, Wagner was overly optimistic in her revenue projections, which resulted in $7 billion in budget shortfalls. The TV ad featured a clip from a News Virginian op-ed that praised Governor Tim Kaine for pruning the budget, but this same op-ed also chided the Kaine administration for their overly optimistic projections. Ironically, Wagner still can’t get simple citations right either, because the ad mentions the News Virginian article as being published on September 14, 2009.
From the News Virginian editorial cited in Wagner’s ad: “This marks the fourth time that Kaine has been forced to cut his two-year budget, putting the total reductions at $7 billion. That’s mostly the result of the national economy slipping into freefall, an event that produced fiscal calamity in some states, though not here. But Kaine cannot escape altogether culpability for a recurring predicament. He repeatedly has ignored the ring of alarms sounded by Republicans over his revenue projections only to wipe egg from his face later.” (“Governor Gets it Right, Sorta,” Waynesboro News Virginian, Sept 11, 2009*)
Additionally, Wagner’s ad mentioned that she created jobs. Currently, 144,000 Virginians are unemployed. Is that considered job creation? No, but Wagner has supported increasing your taxes and will support a Creigh Deeds tax increase.
This is not the type of leadership Virginia needs. We need solid, reliable leadership in Richmond to help deal with getting Virginia’s economy on track.
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