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Pols may pay for voters' fee fury
Will the bad-driver-fee furor affect elections?
Date published: 8/19/2007
BY CHELYEN DAVIS
RICHMOND--The transportation package legislators thought would help them at the November polls might wind up hurting them.
Voter anger over the "abusive-driving" fees is so great that it could hurt incumbents who voted for the fees, political analysts say.
The new fees, intended to raise an estimated $65 million for roads while discouraging bad driving behavior, mean that a DUI costs in the neighborhood of $3,000, and lesser offenses--such as reckless driving, or even failing to use a turn signal, if it causes an accident--could cost drivers several hundred dollars.
While the fees' proponents say they were never intended to apply to things like turn signals, voters are furious.
And they could take out their anger on incumbents--more than 173,000 people signed a petition calling for repeal of the fees and vowing not to support incumbent legislators who voted for them.
"The abusive-driving fees have angered Virginians like few issues in the past 20 years," said University of Mary Washington political analyst Stephen Farnsworth. "I'll be using this law in class this fall as a case study of how not to govern if you want to be re-elected."
The driving fees aren't likely to make much of a difference in races that aren't close, or where there are no incumbents, as in state Senate's 28th District.
But incumbents in tight races who voted for the fees will have some explaining to do.
"I wouldn't expect a huge turnover in Richmond because of this law," Farnsworth said. "But this law absolutely will make it harder for incumbents who voted for it to win in close races, and increases the chances Republicans will lose control of the Virginia Senate."
Lawmakers never expected this level of backlash against the fees.
When Republican lawmakers were negotiating a transportation package during the 2007 session, they thought they were helping their reelection chances. Pass a bill, and Democrats couldn't campaign on a claim that Republicans had done nothing to ease traffic congestion.
MOST LAWMAKERS HELPED PASS TRANSPORTATION BILL
Most legislators from both parties wound up voting for the transportation bill, including the fees, although senators from both parties argued against the driving fees, as well as various other aspects of the bill.
Date published: 8/19/2007
Most recent reader comments:
Build More Roads and They Will Come
(posted by
freedomfirst
, Sep. 25, 2007 2:41 pm)
First of all Mr. Peabody, not a lot of Virginians know about the petition, so 8% is relatively high. The primary issue is the continued spending of our tax dollars on building and improving roads. That never decreases congestion because it always stimulates population increase. The key is to run Metro down the I95 and other Major VA roads to allow going to work without driving on our highways. This fee is an absurd game the good ole boys in Richmond are playing. They need to stop raiding our pockets.
Roughly 2 million people voted for Governor in 2005. 173k makes 8% of that.
Please read the article...
(posted by
chipmunk
, Sep. 25, 2007 2:41 pm)
You are NEVER going to keep bad drivers off the road, period. I agree that even out of state drivers should incur the fees if there have to be fees, but as you can see in the article, the fees cannot be enforced on out of state drivers, so how can they be included? . I don't agree with the fees and think they should be removed.
Single Issue Voters?
(posted by
Mojomama
, Sep. 25, 2007 2:41 pm)
Hah! Try 3-word voters. Remember No-Car-Tax?
Repeal the Fees!
Is 173,000 voters all that many?
(posted by
peabody
, Sep. 25, 2007 2:41 pm)
What percentage of the total voters in Virginia is 173,000? Do you really think that most Virginians are single-issue voters? Many of us believe the only thing wrong with the fee structure is that it needs to be clarified to indicate it does not apply to minor offenses and needs to include out-of-state offenders too. Keep the bad drivers off our roads.
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