Harris McDowell

Roads Held Hostage: Day...um, I Lost Count. Seven legislative days remain, still no word of any sort of fix to the $70 (or $90) million hole in the State's transportation/infrastructure budget. Looks like we're getting in 'patch, then kick the can down the road' territory. The very idea that D's can't or won't tout a needed $70 (or $90) mill road repair/jobs program pretty much defines what's wrong with Delaware's brand of 'Democrat'. BTW, since it looks like the 495 repair will cost somewhere around $20 mill, I'm hedging my bets as to whether the hole in our transportation funding is $70 mill or $90 mill. OK, there are only a few ways that I can write the same story day after day. Whether I'll run out of ways to write it before a fix is arrived at remains to be seen. Check back tomorrow. Oopsies. Did I say tomorrow? Breaking news, and it ain't good.  A real bleak fiscal picture, must-reading for anyone interested in what's gonna get funded and what will not. Here's the takeaway quote:

"The problem is that no one wants to raise taxes for anything. You don't want to raise the gas tax. You don't want to raise income taxes. You don't want a sales tax. You don't want any of these taxes, but you still want the infrastructure," Bhatt told lawmakers.

Speaking of infrastructure, DELDOT's capital proposal is $128 mill, $70 mill less than last year's. Revenue-shifting and the General Assembly's refusal to even consider a gas tax will mean deteriorating roads, bridges and infrastructure. Hey, hopefully they'll be out of office when stuff actually falls down. Then they can blame it on someone else. Cowardice. Proof that these election-obsessives don't live in a reality-based world.