Tuesday, May 12th, 2009...3:10 pm
Dems to Gov: Put Up or Shut Up…Well, At Least Say Something
House democrats complained in yesterday’s media briefing that La Cervecera is not active enough in the budget debate. The governor’s staff, to her credit, has been talking to members of both caucuses, but the complaint is that she hasn’t done much in those meetings except to reiterate her vague outline of a “five point plan,” which is a poor substitute for a real budget that can be debated.
The thought among some is that she is playing the same sort of game that Janet Napolitano used to play: wait until the Republican caucus came to an impasse, then ride in with a plan and a ready made coalition of folks who would vote for it. There is a very important difference here. Napolitano had her own budget that was part of the discussion and ready to go when the smoke cleared. Other than these “five points” (the most specific proposal of which is to end “fund sweeps”), what alternative has she presented when the time comes?
Another important difference is the involvement of the governor’s staff. When she was first appointed, even lefty wags like me were impressed by the firepower she brought to bear on her office, people like Doug Cole and Chuck Coughlin. The complaint is that these two haven’t been around in budget discussions and that the staff handling the budget is, as one railbird put it, “the JV Squad.” I suppose when you don’t have your own solid proposals to discuss, it is hard to go all in.
She’s even allowed what few specific proposals she was pushing to become amporphous slop. For example, the billion dollar sales tax hike she was excited about only a few weeks back has now become something that can only be paraphrased as “let’s raise some money from somewhere, or something…maybe…”
You can’t fight something with nothing, and so far the only alternative proposal is that given by House Democrats. Although parts of their budget have been proposed as amendments to the budget, it isn’t as much part of the legislative discussion (if you can call it that) as an executive budget would be. It’s unfortunate, but true. That is why the governor had an obligation to offer a plan that amounted to more than “wouldn’t it be nice if…?” when this whole thing started.
NB: Jan Brewer drawing by Arnulfo Bermudez.
8 Comments
May 12th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
I’ve always gotten a serious deer-in-the-headlights vibe from the governors office since she took office.
It’s as if all of a sudden she realized SHE had to be the grown-up, or the wingnuts would run the place into the ground, and it just froze her.
BTW, didja see the The Capitol Times front page : “Low taxes, deregulation not only keys to attracting businesses” where some business group leader laments finding out that the lege is not pro-business, just anti-government, and gee, oddly enough, businesses don’t flock to such places.
Can’t remeber who it was offhand, and I don’t have the copy to hand to look it up.
I’d like to drop the entire Legislative majority leadership in Somalia for a month…hell, a week, and see if they come back thinking that gummint is so durn horrible.
May 12th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Remember the old saying, “be careful what you ask for, ou just might get it”?
Well, she wanted the job so bad she tried grabbing from Janet when the guv would leave the country. Well, now she actually HAS the job, she had no friggin clue what to do. I envision her sitting in her office, looking around and saying, like Robert Redford at the end of “The Candidate”, ‘what do we do now?’
and I am with Desert Rat, drop them off in Somalia and give them a taste of no government intervention, no gun laws enforced, no money spent on infrastructure.
May 12th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
I think the Republicans in the Lege have convinced her that if they raise any taxes, they are going to lose elections next year.
It’s probably true. At this point, they have absolutely nothing else they can run on in the next election except maybe getting rid of the photo radar. Photo radar will not trump all the education cuts, or cities / counties raising taxes due to the state sweeping funds, even among conservatives.
May 12th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Hey T–sometimes I like your posts, and sometimes not so much. But, if you could produce a post as good as this everyday, well, that would be something.
May 12th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
If having a plan beats no plan at all I would think that the Democrats have a jackpot coming in 6 weeks.
And yet.. somehow.. it doesn’t feel like that..
May 12th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
I am ready to lay some money down that the state will face a shut-down in July. If they pass the current budget proposal, the courts will throw out the money-grabs, sending the leg to scramble for a budget, and no way they can comeup with a plan in short order.
May 13th, 2009 at 11:13 am
Great minds are thinkin’ alike this morning because when I heard some knucklehead warning of the horrors of European Socialism on the radio this morning, I wondered if he’d ever be willing to go Galt in that libertarian utopia known as Somalia. Low taxes and no regulations! What’s not to love? Oh yeah…the diarrhea.
May 13th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Let’s just say it plainly:
Jan Brewer: IN OVER HER HEAD.
Being the one in charge means you can’t just throw bricks, you actually have to build something with the bricks. And she’s not up to the jobs.