by Joshua P. Darden, Jr.

Originally printed as an op-ed in The Virginian-Pilot on Sunday, May 10, 2009; reposted here in its entirety courtesy of Mr. Darden.

As we approach yet another gubernatorial campaign, it’s hard to believe that over six years have passed since a transportation referendum was held asking Hampton Roads voters to approve a 1 percent sales tax increase to fund urgently needed road, bridge and tunnel improvements. At the time, I was finance chairman for the Committee to Reduce Traffic Congestion, also known as The Yes Campaign. We raised nearly $2.2 million to inform voters about the advantages of creating a stable, independent source of transportation revenue and the serious consequences of not doing this.

Approval of the sales tax increase had strong support among most of our business, political and labor leaders, yet lost at the polls by nearly a 2-to-1 margin.

Had The Yes Campaign succeeded, we would have completed the Midtown Tunnel by now and be well on our way with portions of the third crossing and the widening of Interstate 64 on the Peninsula and Southside. Beyond that, additional road funds also would have been available annually — all for about 30 cents per day per family.

Would that have cured our traffic problems? Possibly not, but it would have made a huge difference in the long run to have a source of ongoing funding available for Hampton Roads’ transportation needs.

It was amazing in 2002 to see that a clear majority of voters agreed that the worst thing about living in Hampton Roads was traffic congestion; that there would be economic benefits from additional transportation funding; that our quality of life would be enhanced, and that our roads would be safer if the projects funded by the referendum were built.

Despite those answers, the voters chose overwhelmingly in 2002 to reject the proposal in the face of polling results that showed a statistical dead heat just weeks before the referendum. It confirmed the widely held idea that most people will not vote to increase their own taxes, no matter how great the need, nor will they necessarily tell pollsters how they are really going to vote.

Those who told pollsters they opposed the referendum gave a variety of reasons:

• It wouldn’t benefit them directly.
• The state should pay for it.
• The suggested improvements were not in the right places.
• They didn’t trust the state to spend the money as promised.

There were answers to those concerns but given the results, the Committee to Reduce Traffic Congestion obviously did not do an effective job communication them with the public.

After losing by such a large margin, transportation proponents did not give up but took another route. They proposed the creation of a representative regional transportation authority to raise and handle financing for transportation. They took their proposal to the 12 Hampton Roads localities with the understanding that approval by more than half of them would commit all to supporting and participating in the transportation funding.

However, in an unforeseen blow to these efforts, after receiving positive votes by the majority of the localities, the courts ruled that the proposal for the authority was not constitutional because under current Virginia law, non-elected officials are not permitted to levy taxes or tax increases.

Obviously, we need new leadership and new solutions if we are going to solve our transportation problems. Bonds, gasoline and sales taxes, tolls and light rail all need to be considered. But above all, what we need is leadership. Governor Warner did all he could to help the referendum succeed, but too many voters opposed the sales tax idea.
What we need now to move transportation forward is a governor like Gerald Baliles or Mills Godwin, two of the truly outstanding governors of the past 50 years.

I had the good fortune, to serve as chairman of Gov. Gerald L. Baliles’ Commission on Transportation for the 21st Century in 1986-87. He gave us a textbook example of political leadership in assessing the transportation needs, evaluating the state’s road-building capacity and identifying the funding sources needed to meet those needs. When the transportation bill became law, it generated $4.25 million per year in new revenue. Adjusted for inflation, that figure has grown to more than $824 million per year.

Governor Godwin, in another example of inspired political leadership, increased our sales tax one-half percent in his legislation in 1967 to fund our community college system, now one of the best in the country.

Voters will have a chance in the June 9 Democratic primary and in the general election in November to vote for a candidate who can lead this effort. The new governor must make transportation his No. 1 priority for the next four years. He must have the political courage to tell the voters that no one is going to pay for these improvements except us. We don’t need any more disingenuous slogans like “No Car Tax,” which siphoned hundreds of millions of dollars from Virginia’s already depleted general fund. I hope whoever wins the gubernatorial election proves to be in the mold of Jerry Baliles or Mills Godwin, great governors who had the courage to stand up and urge solutions to our most pressing problems.

I’m convinced that if our citizens and leaders understand the consequences of inaction, they will support equitable solutions just as they did 40 years ago for the community colleges and 20 years ago for transportation.

Josh Darden is a retired Norfolk businessman, Chairman of The Norfolk Foundation, a founding member of the Hampton Roads Partnership and Co-Founder of CIVIC Leadership Institute and the Tidewater Scholarship Foundation (ACCESS). He is also a past Trustee of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and the Chrysler Museum, past Vice President of the Greater Norfolk Corporation and Norfolk International Terminals.