In smearing Va. governor candidates, Wash. Post's Hiatt failed to provide factual evidence on Dem

In his October 17 column, "Honesty Isn't the Policy in Virginia," Washington Post editorial page editor Fred Hiatt wrote: "Both major candidates for governor in Virginia seem to have concluded that they can be honest or they can be elected, but that they can't be both." Hiatt's charge -- that both Republican candidate Jerry W. Kilgore and Democratic candidate Timothy M. Kaine have made a conscious decision to deceive Virginia's voters -- is a serious one that by its nature demands evidence. Yet the only evidence Hiatt cited to back up his allegation of Kaine's dishonesty is what Hiatt implies is a misleading description of the Virginia tax reforms of 2004. In fact, during campaign stops and in debates, Kaine has accurately described those reforms, which he usually refers to as "budget reforms" -- not "tax reforms," as Hiatt claimed.

Hiatt falsely accused Kaine of misrepresenting the Tax Reform Compromise Act of 2004 (HB 5018) when he wrote that Kaine "feels the need to describe it [HB 5018] as a tax 'reform' that simply lowered some taxes while raising others." Yet the Tax Reform Compromise Act of 2004 did just that. While the measure increased the state's cigarette tax, the sales and use tax, and the recordation tax; it also reduced the state sales tax on food, removed the marriage penalty, increased personal exemptions, and increased the filing threshold for low-income Virginians.