Gov. Kaine touts his handling of Virginia's budget cuts

NORFOLK

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said Monday that he takes pride in shepherding Virginia’s finances through the toughest economic times since the Great Depression.

“Needless to say, I didn’t run for governor to cut more out of Virginia’s budget than anyone who’s ever been governor,” he said. “And yet, it has become my legacy. I’ve become a great budget cutter.”

Kaine had a sympathetic audience for his remarks: the annual conference of the National Association of State Budget Officers at the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside. The national recession has thrown state budgets out of whack across the country.

Virginia has seen year-to-year declines in state revenue only three times in the past 75 years, Kaine said, and the worst of them came on his watch: a 9 percent plummet in fiscal 2009, which ended June 30.

The state already has cut $6 billion out of the current $77 billion two-year budget, and Kaine said more cuts will be necessary in fiscal 2010. He is huddling with his budget advisers to determine the size of those cuts.

The governor said that by going through agency budgets line by line and prioritizing state functions, his administration has been able to keep delivering essential services while minimizing Virginians’ pain.

He had an epiphany recently, Kaine said: “It was one of those thoughts you have in the shower. There are a lot of people in Virginia that I trust, people in public life, that I think could spend dollars as well as I can. But if we have to make cuts, I don’t want anybody to do it other than me.”

Kaine, a Democrat, credited federal stimulus funds with helping Virginia avoid more draconian cuts. Had it not been for that money – $4.8 billion over 27 months – another 7,000 state workers could have lost their jobs, he said.

In an interview after his speech, Kaine replied to Republican critics who say his second job as chairman of the Democratic National Committee is causing him to neglect state business.

On the contrary, he said, his national party post has been a “huge benefit” to Virginia because it has allowed him to work closely with the Obama administration on such matters as the economic stimulus, health care legislation and the dispute over moving a Navy aircraft carrier from Norfolk to Mayport, Fla.

“Those are issues of deep importance to Virginians,” he said. “I wouldn’t have had that opportunity otherwise.”

He manages to balance his two jobs by “having no personal life,” he said, adding, “My wife and kids have been enormously supportive.”

Pilot writer Julian Walker contributed to this report.

Bill Sizemore, (757) 446-2276, bill.sizemore@pilotonline.com