Kaine wish list growing longer

The News Virginian / News Virginian
Published: September 17, 2007

Not one to fritter away time when there's a legacy to be polished, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine last week rolled out a pair of plans to slash Virginia's energy consumption by 40 percent, reduce greenhouse gases and help the uninsured gain access to health care. Tack these ideas onto Kaine's pet initiative to increase by two-thirds the number of 4-year-olds in state pre-kindergarten programs, and all that's missing are proposals to end hunger and bring world peace.

Of course, the governor admits, it will be up to his successors to pursue his energy and health-care goals, there being a $641 million budget gap and all. Kaine vows he'll do his part to advance his programs before leaving office in 2010.

Don't count on much before then - or after.

The energy report, compiled with the aid of the Republican-controlled General Assembly, calls for boosting tax credits for energy-efficient appliances, expanding programs to teach consumers about energy use and help the poor pay to insulate their homes and pushing colleges to come up with ideas to cut energy consumption. All are worthwhile ideas. But there's the problem with money. The state would need a cool $100 million.

Part of the idea would be to boost mass transit, since cars and trucks make up 40 percent of the state's energy use. Talk about increasing the ranks of people riding buses is common anytime there's a discussion about saving energy; far less common are significant increases in ridership.

Kaine's health-care program similarly sounds fine until one considers the fine print. The cost of the two plans combined equals more than a third of the state spending gap. In other words, the ideas capture headlines but their actual worth is slightly less than the paper they're written on.

Republicans offered their own version of a health-care plan, urging an expansion of the state's network of free clinics - again, the issue is how to pay for it. More promising elements of the GOP initiative include using a Web-based claim system to help trim the Medicaid bureaucracy and offering incentives to doctors to treat Medicaid patients and slash the number of emergency-room visits. Both of those ideas would reduce spending. That's a concept the governor should consider.

To be sure, energy is an issue of immense concern, particularly if the doom-and-gloom scenarios we've heard about global warming are to be believed. But glossy, big-ticket initiatives can't produce money when there's none to be had. Already, Republicans say there's little that can be done on the Kaine proposals until state finances improve. That's not likely to happen soon, with economists talking about a looming national recession.

What we'd like to hear is a plan from the governor to rein in spending and get the state's financial house back in order. Old-fashioned penny-pinching might not get the big splash of proposals requiring hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money, but that's just what's needed in Richmond now.

Otherwise, the governor's legacy might be a fat deficit to go with long to-do lists on energy and health care.