Friday, July 24, 2009

Money found to reopen rest areas?

With all the bruhaha from Democrat Gov. Tim Kaine and VDOT about not having money in the budget to keep Virginia's interstate rest areas open, an interesting article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch reveals what many may consider a huge waste of taxpayer money.

What kind of bells and whistles do you find on a $9,000 laptop? That's the cost Virginia will pay for 61,000 computers.

Sixty-one thousand. Do the math. The contract is for $2.3 Billion. That's "billion" with a "b."

How much money did we need to keep the rest areas open? Reportedly the closing of 18 rest areas and one visitor center would result in a savings of $9 million. We cannot find $9 million to preserve rest areas ... but we can spend $9,000 a piece on laptop computers?

I still maintain Democrats are playing politics with a service that is used by many Virginians and visitors to the state. It is time to put pressure on Tim Kaine to reopen the rest areas.

Have you ever seen that movie, Dave? He stands in for the President of the United States and, at one point, brings his accountant friend to the White House to go over the nation's books to find some savings to preserve a children's center. Savings are found and -- voila! -- children's center saved. We need Dave!

Maybe the Commonwealth could find computers on sale at Best Buy ... and then we would have the money to save the rest areas. Wish it was that easy....


H/T Sen. Mark Obenshain's Facebook

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