Am I the only one that thinks this smells fishy?

On December 10, 2007, The Free Lance–Star reported that Caroline County had received a $100,000 grant (hey, I found more money for a full-time Commonwealth’s Attorney!) from the Virginia Department of Transportation to “study building a passenger rail station in the Carmel Church area”. Further, The Free Lance–Star reported:

To join Virginia Railway Express, Caroline would have to become a member of a transportation commission and levy a 2 percent gas tax.

On December 26, 2007 President George Bush signed the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008“, which contains an earmark by the late Representative Jo Anne Davis in the amount of $490,000 for a “Commuter Rail Station at Carmel Church, VA”.

Now, I see this going down one of two ways:

1. “Well, the study says we need VRE and what great timing since we have $490,000 from the federal government to pay for a rail station. Frankly, we don’t care what you [the citizens] have to say about the gas tax!”
2. “The study says we don’t need VRE but we can’t turn this $490,000 down! I don’t care if you [the citizens] don’t like the gas tax or not! We are getting VRE!”

One current supervisor has stated: “I did not and will not support a gas tax.” Gut check time.