Budget debate about more than the budget

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March 15, 2010

By RONNIE ELLIS CNHI The Glasgow Daily Times Mon Mar 15, 2010, 09:06 AM CDT

FRANKFORT — A few days before the 2010 General Assembly convened, Sen. Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, told a health care group the final version of a new state budget wouldn’t emerge until the last days of the session — just as it always does.

I groaned, thinking of those final days of the session — the long nights, the endless wrangling, the frustration of watching the public’s most important business decided behind closed doors by a handful of powerful legislators. There are 138 members of the General Assembly and the governor on the first floor elected to set the state’s course. But in reality, 16 or so lawmakers make the most important decisions.

The Democrat-controlled House passes its version; the Republican controlled Senate re-works it to its liking and leaders from the two chambers hammer out the differences. Put that way, it doesn’t sound so bad. It evokes images of compromise to produce something they all can live with and for the state as a whole. But sometimes in those free conference committees entirely new items are added, things never debated by the larger chambers. Then the rank-and-file are asked to vote on the final product — often without time to read it much less analyze it.

It began differently this time. After Gov. Steve Beshear handed the budget off to the legislature, House Speaker Greg Stumbo and Senate President David Williams spoke frequently of the unusual level of cooperation and information sharing between the two chambers. Because they had to build an entire budget from scratch, they said, lawmakers couldn’t wait until the last hours of the session to fight over a small portion of a budget while both sides agreed to most of the rest in advance, especially with the state facing a $1.3 billion shortfall.

Now the House has passed a budget that tinkers with some business taxes and filled the budget with bonded projects — nearly all in Democratic districts — and avoids drastic cuts to popular areas of the budget. But the Senate doesn’t seem entirely pleased and likely won’t go along with major portions of the House budget. Stivers’ prediction appears on target — again.

It makes one wonder why lawmakers go through all the charades. Why not just pass a shell budget and proceed to the conference committee from the start? (According to a couple of lawmakers, such a suggestion was made but rejected early in the session.) Why?

Well, because this is an election year. It’s not just any election year. November’s legislative races will determine not only who will control the two chambers of the General Assembly, they will determine who draws legislative districts — both at the state and federal levels — after the 2010 census. Majorities skillfully draw them to protect their incumbents and endanger the other party’s.

So the House puts goodies in the budget for which its Democratic members can claim credit at election time — or blame Republicans for removing. Republicans in the Senate will craft a budget they can tout this fall. The intent was revealed during last week’s floor debate in the House. Republicans compared the Democratic plan to the Obama agenda and claimed retribution for Republicans’ earlier votes against the tax changes. They promised another form of retribution this fall at the polls. Democrats responded with accusations that the Bush administration caused the recession and made their own campaign-style speeches.

Now it’s the Senate’s turn. Enjoy the bombast and show. The real budget will emerge beginning in a couple of weeks.

Ronnie Ellis writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort, Ky. He may be contacted by email at rellis(at)cnhi.com. Follow CNHI News Service stories on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cnhifrankfort.

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