Lieutenant governor hopefuls butt horns

RICHMOND — In their campaign for lieutenant governor, Republican Bill Bolling and Democrat Jody Wagner are both accusing the other of botching their duties in high-ranking state government posts.
Bolling, who’s seeking a second term in the state’s No. 2 job, says Wagner is responsible for billions in budget cuts because her revenue projections as Virginia’s secretary of finance were way off the mark.

Wagner paints Bolling as a no-show lieutenant governor who sat on the sidelines and criticized those who were trying to solve the state’s budget and transportation problems.
Neither argument has much to do with the job’s only official duties — presiding over the Senate and succeeding the governor. Voters will decide Nov. 3 who fills the $36,000-a-year, part-time job that is often a first step to running for governor.

Bolling was one of the first to criticize revenue projections in 2007 that predicted nearly 10 percent growth during the 2008-10 biennium. Instead, the country plunged into a recession, dragging down Virginia’s revenues by more than 10 percent during those two years.
As a result, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has made about $7 billion in budget cuts, shut down half of the state’s interstate highway rest stops, closed prisons and laid off about 2,000 state and transportation workers.
Although a bipartisan group of advisers helps set revenue projections, Bolling has put most of the blame on Wagner in her position as Kaine’s secretary of finance.

“When the magnitude of her financial mismanagement became known, she didn’t even stick around to fix the problem she created,” Bolling said of Wagner’s resignation in August 2008 to run for lieutenant governor. “She quit and went out and asked the people of Virginia to give her a promotion. With all due respect, I just don’t think her record as secretary of finance deserves a promotion.”
Virginia wasn’t alone in its overly optimistic revenue forecasts. According to a report by the Center on Budget Policy Priorities, the national average for state budget shortfalls was 24 percent. Virginia’s was 20 percent.
“If in December 2007 I had said to the General Assembly, ‘Look, things are going to get rough, 94 banks are going to close and General Motors is going to need bailed out and AIG is going to need a bailout, and Lehman Brothers is going to go out of business,’ they would have said, ‘Lady, you’re crazy,’” Wagner said.

Wagner criticizes Bolling for not participating in the discussions where the revenue projections were set. She also attacks Bolling for rarely attending meetings of state commissions he belongs to dealing with the military, the disabled, education and tourism.
Like many of those in the job before him, Bolling, 52, said he designates a staff member to sit in on those meetings and brief him afterward.
Wagner, 54, points to Virginia’s accolades for its financial management while she was state treasurer under then-Gov. Mark R. Warner and secretary of finance for Kaine, including being named the best-managed state, the best state to raise a child and the best state for business.

Bill Bolling
Age: 52, born May 15, 1957, in Sistersville, W.Va.
Residence: Hanover County
Occupation: Vice president with Riggs, Councilman, Michaels and Downes, an independent insurance agency
Experience: Virginia lieutenant governor, 2006-present; Virginia Senate, 1996-2005
Education: Bachelor’s degree, University of Charleston in West Virginia, 1979
Personal: Wife, Jean Ann; children, Matthew and Kevin

Jody Wagner
Age: 53, born Aug. 6, 1955, in Canton, Ohio
Residence: Virginia Beach
Occupation: Small-business owner, Jody’s Popcorn
Experience: Virginia finance secretary, 2006-08; state treasurer, 2002-06; member, Virginia Economic Development Partnership; member, Virginia Small Business Authority
Education: Bachelor’s degree, Northwestern University, 1977; law degree, Vanderbilt University School of Law, 1980
Personal: Husband, Alan; children, Rachael, Jason, Elizabeth and Maxwell