Apparently when it comes to Virginia's Democrat Governors, campaign promises don't mean shit. The sad thing is that the voters don't even care that they're being lied to. I said this about Mark "I will not raise taxes" Warner (who passed the largest tax increase in Virginia's 400 year history). Apparently Tim "no new gun control" Kaine is cut from the same cloth.

House of Delegates Majority Leader Morgan Griffith (R) writes:

When then-Gov. Mark R. Warner announced his proposal for the largest tax increase in state history after the legislative elections of 2003, he broke a campaign promise. As a gubernatorial candidate two years earlier, Warner stressed that he would not raise taxes, appearing on television screens across Virginia proclaiming, "Let me set the record straight, I will not raise taxes."

For Warner, breaking a promise that played a key role in his election has not, to date, carried any discernible consequences. Warner was praised by the editorial boards of several newspapers [shocking!], received almost exclusively fawning press coverage and left office with high approval ratings.

Like Warner, Kaine promised he would not raise taxes. Moreover, he made it a point to specifically reject raising taxes for transportation, declaring in his campaign advertisements that Virginia couldn't tax and pave its way out of gridlock.

Of course, Kaine broke that promise his first week in office, proposing a massive statewide tax increase for transportation. The most prominent feature of Kaine's proposal would have increased the taxes paid by Virginians when buying a vehicle by 67 percent. After failing in his first two years to get the General Assembly to enact that increase, he is now prepared to call a special session and appears poised to promote it a third time.

His position on tax increases is not the only key commitment made by candidate Kaine that has been discarded by Gov. Kaine. As a candidate, Kaine's campaign Web site proclaimed, "As the next governor of Virginia, he will not propose any new gun laws." That promise went by the wayside earlier this year, when Kaine became the most prominent backer of a measure that would have regulated the sale of firearms between private individuals at gun shows.