Gov. Kaine has the veto pen out

A couple interesting nuggets out of the governor's office this morning.

First, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine used his veto pen to re-write last year's transportation plan in the state code. Kaine got into the bill using a piece of legislation sponsored by Del. Clarke Hogan, R-Halifax.

According to Kaine's press secretary, the governor went into the code and took out the portions that the Virginia Supreme Court struck down last Friday, when the state's high court dismantled the Hampton Roads Transportation Authority and the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority.

Kaine also vetoed two gun bills. That's not surprising - he vowed to do away with them  - but they are very telling about the future of the General Assembly and specifically the Virginia Senate.

The first bill, sponsored by Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel, "would have allowed people to carry a concealed weapon in a car as long as it was in a locked compartment or container," according to the governor's office.

Kaine vetoed similar legislation two years ago.

The second bill sponsored by Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Augusta, "would have allowed people to bring concealed weapons into restaurants that serve alcohol."

The proposals are interesting because Kaine spent a lot of money on the campaign trail and successfully took back the Senate for the Democrats. But clearly the new Democratic majority hasn't paid off in the way that Kaine was expecting.

It's hard to believe that he expected to see more gun legislation getting out of the Senate, especially after one of his signature gun control issues - closing the gun show loophole - failed to even get to the floor of the Senate for debate.