No, Spanky, Gilmore could have done much more to limit spending

The latest effort by Spank That Donkey to come to Jim Gilmore’s defense is, um, interesting.  My continuing advocacy in favor of Delegate Bob Marshall is clearly getting to him.  I would note, however, than even in his latest installment, Spanky can’t criticize Bob Marshall, and instead chooses to go after those of us who support him here in the blogosphere.

Spanky begins by reminding everyone of a mistake I made in the budget tabulations of the two Governors.  I had initially found Gilmore and Warner’s spending increases to by 36% and 32%, respectively; after some discussion on the accounting nature of car-tax relief and my recognition that the entire four years for each man should be considered, instead of just the last biennium, I found my numbers to be in error and corrected them, to 30% and 28% respectively.  I acknowledge the error, and in fact, I’m grateful to Spanky and Brandon Bell for pointing this out.

Then, sadly, Spanky seems to miss the entire point of the discussion.

You know this is the point I’d like to make about spending to my ‘friends’ DJ and Shaun.  Gov. Jim Gilmore got a lot done in the way of tax relief and tuition relief for our citizens.  At the same time he increased funding for K-12 education, (OH MY GOD!),  and poured money into transportation.  All of this without raising taxes . . .

What Spanky seems to miss is that folks like Shaun (Kenney, btw) and myself are not satisfied with spendthrift Governors who just happen to not raise taxes.  Granted, it’s better than Governors that choose to spend money and raise taxes (this is where Gilmore is superior to Warner, btw), but it is far from the ideal; and it certainly won’t count for as much as a principled conservative who fought spending and tax increases for as long as Bob Marshall has.

But here’s where Spanky really embarrasses himself:

The only way Gov. Jim Gilmore could have possibly, imaginably spent less money would have been to go down to the Senate Finance Committee, grab Senators Chichester and Potts by the scruffs of their necks, haul them out onto the Capitol Steps and put a gun to their heads

Actually, Spanky, Governor Gilmore could have reduced or eliminated any spending item he wanted.  Virginia grants its governors the line item veto, which means (Virginia Dept. of Planning and Budget, emphasis added):

The Governor reviews the bill passed by the General Assembly. He may sign it, veto the entire bill or certain line items, or recommend amendments. If the Governor vetoes the bill or any items of the bill, it goes back to the General Assembly during a reconvened session in the spring. If he recommends amendments, the bill is returned to the reconvened session for consideration and action by the General Assembly on the Governor’s proposed amendments.

I repeat for emphasis, “If the Governor vetoes the bill or any items of the bill.”  In other words, Gilmore could have vetoed whatever pieces of the budget he wanted, and then taken his case to the people of Virginia that the legislature was wasting taxpayer money.  Instead, he chose to accept a 30% increase in state spending.  That’s Gilmore’s record, and to point it out is not an “attack,” much as Spanky would like to think otherwise.

There is no “desperation” here among Marshall supporters; we knew this would be an uphill battle, but for us, it’s worth the climb, and we must be making progress if a Gilmore blogger as prominent as Spank That Donkey has become this hysterical.