Opening Statements:  Jody Wagner starts off by touting Virginia’s reputation as being one of the best managed states, then she slams Bill Bolling on his attendance record.

Bolling started off by stating his record and saying that Wagner’s opening statement shows why the Democratic ticket keeps failing.

Question 1:  What issues do you think you relate to with Bob McDonnell? What issues do you agree with McDonnell on?

This question was posed to Wagner.  Wagner said that Creigh Deeds will be elected next Governor, and would work with McDonnell, if he is elected, to help get job growth initiatives pushed forward.  Wagner ignored the question, but said she would work with him on job initiatives.

The question was then posed to Bolling, and he was asked the same question with Creigh Deeds.  Bolling demonstrated that he was able to work with Tim Kaine on various initiatives, and he would do the same with Deeds.  Bolling also said that each Lieutenant Governor has its own initiatives.

Wagner offered a rebuttal that did not quite make sense.

Question 2 was posed to Bolling about the meeting attendance record.  Bolling has attended the meetings or has sent staff liaisons to these meetings.  Bolling has been at 80% of those meetings.  When the General Assembly is in session, Bolling presides over the State Senate, so it can be quite difficult to attend every meeting.  Some of the committees mentioned by Wagner in her accusations against Bolling’s attendance record, Bolling had no participation in those meetings.

Question 3 was again posed to Bolling about why he should be elected to continue addressing the economic issues.  Bolling mentioned Wagner’s record as Lieutenant Governor, and said that we need to work on improving transportation and boosting job growth initiatives.

Wagner’s theme is to question Bolling’s leadership.  Wagner mentions that she is not in favor of raising taxes (NOT).

Bolling followed up by mentioning Wagner’s favorability of raising taxes.  Bolling followed up by mentioning a Washington Post article, where Wagner appeared before a meeting at Greenspring Retirement Community in Fairfax, where she said “Bring It On!” with regards to taxes.

Wagner tried to argue, but the moderator cut her off by saying there would be time for this later.

The commentator asked Wagner to clarify her tax record.   Wagner did not mention which taxes she intended to raise (again avoiding the question).   She also mentioned that Deeds did not have a plan to raise taxes.  (Is she oblivious?  Deeds mentioned this…perhaps, she needs to watch the clip.)

Bolling, then asked if Wagner, if she would join with the McDonnell-Bolling plan considering that she was against Deeds’ tax increase plan.  Then, he mentioned another article (which Wagner said was a violation of the rules…Bolling refuted that it was not a violation).

Wagner called Bolling a liar by saying that she does not intend to raise taxes.

The next question focused on the budget.  Wagner indicated that she does not want education cuts in the budget, and she avoided the question regarding what she would cut.  Bolling mentioned the overly optimistic revenue projections.  We need to balance the budget by reining in taxes.  Wagner followed up by mentioning his attendance record at the meetings.

The follow up question asked Bolling if he is over exaggerating the budget projections.  Bolling said no, and mentioned that the budget was mishandled.  Bolling also focused on the need to balance the budget by cutting taxes.  Wagner indicated that this was a political attack, and again, focuses on the number of meetings that Bolling has missed.  Bolling, then followed up by focusing on the state debt doubling and taking money out of the rainy day fund, due to the budget shortfalls, made by Wagner.

Another question was posed to Bolling about McDonnell’s plan to name him Chief Jobs Creation Officer.  Bolling mentioned his pro-business record, and the endorsements he has received from pro-business organizations.  Bolling said that he has a record of helping to create employment.  He indicated that we need to create more jobs by reducing the tax burdens on businesses and providing more incentives.

Wagner mentioned that we need to make investments on green energy and said she has a plan on her website that will help boost those jobs.  Wagner again attacked Bolling on the fact that he hasn’t been at his own job (this is not true).

Bolling asked Wagner if she supports card check legislation.  Wagner avoided this question and accused Bolling of running a negative campaign.

How would you improve education?  McDonnell and Bolling have an education plan that will not cut the quality standards of public education.  We just need to channel that spending into the classroom and take it away from the central office bureaucracy.  By putting money into the classroom, teacher pay will be raised to the national average.

Wagner mentioned that there needs to be more preparation in helping students learn and boost college preparatory curriculum.  Wagner indicated that she will be a presence in at risk high schools helping to boost graduation rates.  Wagner attacks Bolling on the fact that money will be taken away from public education.

The theme of the evening has been on distortions and dishonesty by the Deeds and Wagner administration.

Finally, the closing statements began with Wagner calling Bolling out on being dishonest, and that she is the best candidate to handle the challenges.  She mentioned that Bolling has been focused on being a part-time Lieutenant Governor.  (The office of Lieutenant Governor, according to the Constitution of Virginia, is a part-time position.)

Bolling closed out by mentioning his endorsements by pro-business organizations, and that he is dedicated to leading Virginia through the challenges.  Bolling also mentioned that he will remain dedicated to restoring Virginia back to fiscal responsibility by balancing the budget without raising taxes.

Overall, this debate was a victory for Bolling, as Wagner often dodged the hard questions and kept on attacking Bolling for missing meetings of committees, in which he was not an member.  Wagner offered no vision or initiatives for job growth or improving the current financial state in Virginia.  Bolling has solid initiatives that will improve job growth, transportation, and restore fiscal responsibility.

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.

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.

Below is the statement released by the Bolling campaign:

“”Earlier today, the campaign of Jody Wagner released a statement asserting that Lieutenant Governor Bolling had threatened to “pull out” of a debate that had been scheduled for September 24th before the Prince William Committee of 100. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Bolling campaign’s participation in this debate has always been predicated on our ability to develop mutually agreed-upon rules and debate format. However, and despite our best efforts, no final rules have been agreed to and for the Wagner campaign to claim otherwise is simply false.

During our discussions with the Prince William Committee of 100 we have made significant compromises on several issues, including the moderator of the debate, the rules of the debate, the format of the debate, etc. However, we have insisted on the inclusion of a “no use” agreement in the rules. Unfortunately, and despite our best efforts, the Wagner campaign has refused to agree to a “no use” agreement, and the debate cannot proceed without such an agreement.

No use agreements are standard for debates of this nature. They protect both sides from having clips and portions of the debate taken out of context. For example, the recent gubernatorial debate in Fairfax operated under a mutually acceptable no-use agreement.

In addition, and at the request of the debate organizers, we have taken great care to keep our discussions about debate rules private and out of the media. Unfortunately, the Wagner campaign has refused to discuss the rules of this debate in good faith, as is evidenced by their recent press release; and has now issued a factually inaccurate and misleading statement in an effort to try and score some cheap political points in advance of the debate. Given these developments, it is clear that the debate cannot move forward as scheduled on September 24th and we have advised the debate organizers of that fact.

Lieutenant Governor Bolling was looking forward to the opportunity to debate Ms. Wagner and discuss the important issues currently facing Virginia, and we remain hopeful that this will occur at some point in the future.

We greatly appreciate the hard work that the Prince William Committee of 100 has put into this event, and we are very disappointed that the debate will not proceed as scheduled. However, it is obvious to that the Wagner campaign would rather debate about debates than actually hold one.”

Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that Bill Bolling is highlighting how Wagner’s budget predictions have led to some of the largest cuts. For a long time, Bolling has been providing warnings since 2007 that the state’s revenues were too high. Bolling also mentioned in a previous op-ed that

“”it is important to remember that while state revenues are not increasing as rapidly as had been expected, they are still increasing.”

Instead of 3.3 percent growth in the 2008-09 fiscal year and 6.6 percent in the 2009-10 fiscal year, the tax revenues are projected to decline an estimated 10.8 percent in the two years.”

It is the role of the Secretary of Finance to draw up a responsible budget with realistic predictions and monitor expenditures. Even when reports were showing that our national economy was headed for a downturn in 2007, Virginia could have been better prepared for this situation by having a realistic budget that had cut some unnecessary, wasteful program.

Bill Bolling has every right to criticize Jody Wagner, as her budget predictions have clearly led to cuts, furloughs, etc.

Meanwhile, the blame just doesn’t go to Kaine for his part to overestimate the budget. Former Secretary of Finance and Lieutenant Governor candidate, Jody Wagner, predicted more revenue than what was coming in. Wagner’s duties were simple, as she had to craft the budget and setting the revenue. During her tenure, the budget projections were over by 20 percent, the state debt grew significantly, and depleted the Rainy Day Fund. Talk about huge oversight. Is this who we want as Lieutenant Governor?

Bill Bolling has warned about the disastrous consequences that these budget projections would have on the Commonwealth’s economy.

“The budget shortfalls that Governor Kaine announced today are serious, but they should not surprise anyone. I have been warning for the past two years that the current state budget is based on overly optimistic revenue projections and that huge budget shortfalls would be the result. This is what happens when you base your budget on money you don’t have to make promises you can’t keep.“For the past four years we have based our budget on overly optimistic revenue projections, the use of one-time revenues to pay for ongoing programs, spiraling amounts of state debt and raids on the rainy day fund. That is not fiscally responsible and we cannot continue to manage Virginia’s finances this way.

“Unfortunately, the budget shortfalls we are facing in the current fiscal year may only be the beginning of our long term fiscal challenges. We will likely face additional budget shortfalls in the 2010-2012 biennium when the federal stimulus dollars we used to balance the budget last year run out. In fact, those shortfalls could be larger than the shortfalls we are experiencing in the current fiscal year.

“Going forward, we must make certain that our budgets are based on realistic revenue projections, reduce spending to match available revenue and eliminate the budget gimmicks. This will require us to make many difficult choices, but these are the same kind of choices that families and businesses have had to make in recent months, and the people of Virginia expect state government to live by the same economic realities that they must live by.”

The fruits of Jody Wagner’s budget projections are a bitter pill to swallow for Virginia.

The reason I mention the calculator as being the perfect gift is that Wagner, while serving over the past three years as Secretary of Finance, has made the claim that Virginia is better off than California in terms of the budget. While that might be true, Virginia has a budget shortfall of $730 million. Clearly, this estimate must be due to calculation errors. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports:

“No matter how you look at it, the forecast is pain.

Spending in the current Virginia budget for fiscal 2010 will have to be slashed up to $1.5 billion if the most dire economic forecast for state revenue prevails, according to the Governor’s Advisory Board of Economists.

That figure was the worst of three scenarios the board offered the governor.

Even the most optimistic forecast for state revenue during the current fiscal year, which began July 1, still calls for more than $730 million in reductions in state spending to balance the last year of the commonwealth’s 2009-10 budget.

The standard, middle-of-the-road forecast projects a deficit of about $1.1 billion.

Even Jeff Schapiro of the Richmond Times-Dispatch made this good point:

“[The Wagner term as Secretary of Finance were] years marked by muff-ups and miscalculations,” wrote columnist Jeff Schapiro (Richmond Times-Disptach, September 21, 2008). “There are legitimate reasons for taking a hammer to Wagner . . . The Kaine administration’s fiscal sins, perceived and actual, are numerous. Among them: pushing for higher transportation taxes even as the economy began its decline, and missing revenue projections by a mile – or two or three. Also, taking baby steps to balance the $77 billion budget more than a year ago, when perhaps more aggressive measures were justified.”

Jody wants us to trust her, when she says that she has brought fiscal responsibility to the government. Huh? Come again? Her budget predictions have been over, Virginia will now have to face future layoffs, etc. and yet, she expects Virginians to elect her as Lieutenant Governor.

Jody Wagner expects us to elect her to the Lieutenant Governor’s Mansion, yet during her three years as Secretary of Finance, she has missed revenue projections by 20% and incurred $5 billion dollars in budget shortfalls with more expected. Now, she is having a problems understanding the Governor’s Opportunity Fund, which is the incentive fund used for bringing new businesses to the Commonwealth.

Both Bob McDonnell and Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling have proposed with their Jobs for Virginia program, doubling the Governor’s Opportunity Fund, as one way to boost the economy and create more jobs. During a campaign stop, Wagner said that Bolling’s support for this is new and that he even supported cuts for the fund.

“It’s interesting that last week Bill Bolling was traveling around the state, and he was talking about the fact that the Governor’s Opportunity Fund has to be greater. Well, he’s been part of the crowd that’s been cutting the Governor’s Opportunity Fund, and cutting the Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s funding.”

Wagner has this wrong, and maybe, she forgot some key facts. In 2007, Bolling, along with Governor Tim Kaine called for an increase to the fund, as well as, proposing legislation to expand the access of the funds to small businesses, who locate in areas, where businesses seem to be declining. Bolling has been fighting to create jobs and boost Virginia’s economy. Meanwhile, Wagner still seems out of reality by distorting the facts, and this is one quality that Virginia does not need in a Lieutenant Governor.

Bolling was elected due to his strong leadership in advancing the mission of NLGA over the past four years.

“The nation’s lieutenant governors find within the NLGA the tools to contribute at the highest level and collegiality that knows no bounds,”  said Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton (D-Wisconsin), outgoing NLGA Chair.  “I pass the gavel to Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling with complete confidence that his leadership will keep up on the path to progress by every measure.”

Bolling has worked on several NLGA initiatives, including the Ending Cervical Cancer In Our Lifetime initiative, along with bringing other health care issues out into the public.

“I am honored that my colleagues from across the country have asked me to serve as Chairman of NLGA for the next year,” Lieutenant Governor Bolling said. “I look forward to working with them to build on the successes of the NLGA and help build bi-partisan consensus around realistic and workable solutions to the challenges facing our states and our nation.”