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for him this year, Mr. Wilder puzzled both the outgoing governor and veteran political observers when he recently asked Del. Frank Hall of Richmond to investigate whether the Virginia Department of Transportation has been slow in completing road projects.
Del. Hall’s choice for that role was seen as curious by many and clearly surprised Gov. Baliles, who just a few weeks before had gone on a statewide television hook-up to proclaim that road building was proceeding as fast it could in the state.
Probabaly the most enduring memory of the Baliles years will be the special session on transportation called in his first year to deal with what he regarded as a mounting transportation crisis.
Just as Mills Godwin Jr. in his first term is recalled as “The Education Governor,” Gov. Baliles is already being referred to by some as “The Transportation Governor.”
Mr. Wilder’s move does nothing to enhance that legacy, particularly since Del. Hall voted against the 1986 transportation package that put $422 million new dollars each year into transportation. It left Ray Pethtel, the highway commissioner appointed by Gov. Baliles, between a rock and hard place, since he would like to be reappointed.
And it upset some Northern Virginia and Tidewater officials, because Del. Hall is from Richmond and the most urgent transportation problems are in those regions.
While a Wilder spokesperson
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