Rhetoric without results
From the Spartanburg Herald-Journal:
Rhetoric without results: Lawmakers don't intend to make hard decisions they avoided earlier
Published: Sunday, September 7, 2008
Gov. Mark Sanford and the leaders of the General Assembly have been arguing by memo lately, but no progress has been made to make sensible cuts in an unbalanced state budget.
Sanford has been arguing with Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell and House Speaker Bobby Harrell about how and when lawmakers could come back to Columbia to deal with the state's financial condition.
A revenue shortfall has left a $188 million hole in the state budget. Lawmakers are content to let across-the-board budget cuts take care of the shortfall. But Sanford wants lawmakers to make thoughtful cuts so that core state programs are preserved while less essential spending is cut.
So Sanford has been proclaiming that lawmakers need to come back to Columbia and fix the budget, while lawmakers insist that the measures they passed in adjourning make it impossible for them to meet again until later in the year.
They all ignore the truth, which is that, while the General Assembly was in session, lawmakers specifically avoided making the tough budget decisions that needed to be made, and they have no intention of making them now.
Lawmakers passed a sham of a budget this year. They knew they hadn't included enough money to run the state prison system. They knew they hadn't included enough money to fuel the state's school buses. And they knew they had counted on more revenue than the state would take in.
Lawmakers aren't caught by surprise by the revenue shortfall. Everyone saw it coming.
So why didn't they write a budget that paid for these necessary expenses and would survive the lower income? Because that would have meant cutting other programs, making tough decisions comparing spending priorities and even cutting some of their pet projects like local festivals and state-sponsored vacations for German lawmakers.
They didn't want to do that. They didn't want to give up their favorite spending items, and they didn't want to aggravate any voters by making hard spending choices in an election year. So they passed a budget they knew didn't meet the state's needs or its fiscal realities.
And nothing has changed since then. Sanford can try to shame them into fulfilling their duty until he's blue in the face - that works to his political benefit - but they aren't about to cooperate.
The entire debate about who can call for a special legislative session and when ignores the fact that lawmakers have no intention of revisiting the budget. Even if they returned, they are likely to simply pass the same across-the-board budget cuts they have relied on in the past. That would allow them to continue to avoid their responsibility.
The people of this state deserve better. They deserve to know that their kids' school buses are going to have fuel, and that the people who work in our prisons are safe. But with the current leadership in place, all they're likely to get is political posturing.
Rhetoric without results: Lawmakers don't intend to make hard decisions they avoided earlier
Published: Sunday, September 7, 2008
Gov. Mark Sanford and the leaders of the General Assembly have been arguing by memo lately, but no progress has been made to make sensible cuts in an unbalanced state budget.
Sanford has been arguing with Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell and House Speaker Bobby Harrell about how and when lawmakers could come back to Columbia to deal with the state's financial condition.
A revenue shortfall has left a $188 million hole in the state budget. Lawmakers are content to let across-the-board budget cuts take care of the shortfall. But Sanford wants lawmakers to make thoughtful cuts so that core state programs are preserved while less essential spending is cut.
So Sanford has been proclaiming that lawmakers need to come back to Columbia and fix the budget, while lawmakers insist that the measures they passed in adjourning make it impossible for them to meet again until later in the year.
They all ignore the truth, which is that, while the General Assembly was in session, lawmakers specifically avoided making the tough budget decisions that needed to be made, and they have no intention of making them now.
Lawmakers passed a sham of a budget this year. They knew they hadn't included enough money to run the state prison system. They knew they hadn't included enough money to fuel the state's school buses. And they knew they had counted on more revenue than the state would take in.
Lawmakers aren't caught by surprise by the revenue shortfall. Everyone saw it coming.
So why didn't they write a budget that paid for these necessary expenses and would survive the lower income? Because that would have meant cutting other programs, making tough decisions comparing spending priorities and even cutting some of their pet projects like local festivals and state-sponsored vacations for German lawmakers.
They didn't want to do that. They didn't want to give up their favorite spending items, and they didn't want to aggravate any voters by making hard spending choices in an election year. So they passed a budget they knew didn't meet the state's needs or its fiscal realities.
And nothing has changed since then. Sanford can try to shame them into fulfilling their duty until he's blue in the face - that works to his political benefit - but they aren't about to cooperate.
The entire debate about who can call for a special legislative session and when ignores the fact that lawmakers have no intention of revisiting the budget. Even if they returned, they are likely to simply pass the same across-the-board budget cuts they have relied on in the past. That would allow them to continue to avoid their responsibility.
The people of this state deserve better. They deserve to know that their kids' school buses are going to have fuel, and that the people who work in our prisons are safe. But with the current leadership in place, all they're likely to get is political posturing.
posted by Matt Moore at
2:49 PM
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