LTE: May Wrong on Rail, Abortion, Taxes

Dear Editor,

I am responding to the letter from Michael Turner claiming Del. Joe May is a fiscally conservative cost cutter. It appears these comments were taken word for word from one of the numerous mail pieces May has sent out.

On the subject of Joe’s Family Foundation rating, it is deceptive for him to imply that rating is a pro-life indicator, given it did not weigh in on pro-life votes; only on an array of handpicked votes on a wide range of issues. In contrast, his 75 percent pro-abortion score from NARAL is specific to that one issue.

During Joe May’s 20-year reign, the population of Virginia has grown by 20 percent, while the budget has grown 200 percent. Cost cutter?

Joe May has controlled the Powerful Transportation Committee for years while our traffic gets worse.   

The primary reason for Virginia's traffic gridlock is not a shortage of dollars but its misallocation to inefficient and underused public transportation projects, according to an analysis based on U.S. Census data by transportation specialist Ron Utt.

Joe May is taking credit for cuts that have nothing to do with his role, but says nothing about how he recently voted to raise taxes by $6 billion. May voted for the largest tax increases in Virginia's history.

Six billion dollars is almost exactly the total amount of the 4 biggest transportation pork projects in Virginia. Three of these put roads in far-off districts of Joe May’s friends; the fourth is the Dulles rail developer boondoggle and is the legacy project of his key endorser, Frank Wolf.

Frank Wolf may want to look away from Joe May’s big government, big spending, and pro-abortion voting, but I hope it is not part of Wolf’s scheme to tap Virginia for more and more funding for his Dulles rail pet project. The FHA denied funding that mess a long time ago for good reason and Wolf should have let it die then. It wastes billions and will make traffic worse. Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli outed that waste of money, saying he opposes the Metrorail project's second phase because it is a boondoggle … According to projections made for eight sample trips, half of them would be no faster than driving. Cuccinelli said, "It is a real estate deal, not a transportation project." 

This project represents the Wolf-May legacy. Joe May has been closely involved in offloading the Dulles rail boondoggle to the Washington Metropolitan Airports Authority, which issues junk bonds at double the rate Virginia pays, and then picks the pockets of Frank Wolf’s and Joe May’s constituents while these “leaders” turn a blind eye.

If you call that leadership, I disagree. It is time for a conservative change. That's why I'm voting for Dave LaRock for Delegate on June 11.

David Siecker
Purcellville, VA