Meat cleaver is wrong tool
Published 3:04 pm Thursday, August 12, 2010
A Legislature that needed a month of overtime to balance the current budget, despite solid Democratic majorities, isn’t apt to fix a new shortfall in a few days — especially during an election campaign.
So Thursday’s call by state Republicans’ leading budget voice, Sen. Joe Zarelli, for “a short special session to address this budget crisis,” came off as little more than political grandstanding.
As the ranking minority member of the Ways and Means Committee, Zarelli has consistently and compellingly outlined ideas for saving money in recent years — ideas that were rejected or ignored by majority Democrats. His current call is less constructive. No matter where Democrats cut during a special session, they’d get roasted for it by Republicans on the campaign trail this fall — as any politician understands.
Zarelli’s call was prompted by an announcement by Gov. Chris Gregoire that she has directed state agencies to prepare reductions of 4-7 percent because across-the-board cuts may be necessary Oct. 1 if revenues continue to drag. Tax collections were $125 million below projections the past two months, leaving the possibility of a deficit despite this week’s infusion of $543 million in federal aid.
Across-the-board cuts, which treat education the same as the least important areas of the budget, are the only option the governor has under current law if the Legislature doesn’t act.
That fact prompted a more targeted special-session suggestion Thursday, from Jason Mercier of the Washington Policy Center: Convene the Legislature to give the governor more flexibility to adjust the budget on her own in an emergency like this.
It’s an idea Mercier has pushed before. Governors in at least 10 states, he points out, have more flexibility than Gregoire to deal with a budget shortfall. With a part-time Legislature, Washington’s governor clearly needs it. She should be cutting with something closer to a scalpel than a meat cleaver.
Much of K-12 education funding is protected constitutionally, but not all of it. Other top priorities, which include higher education, public safety, and protecting the health and safety of our most vulnerable citizens, shouldn’t take the same level of cuts as less critical services.
Legislative leaders should work with the governor to quickly draft legislation, based on what already works in other states, to give her the tools she needs to make rational, prioritized spending reductions.
Democrats may fear voter backlash for making budget cuts during an election campaign, but they should also worry about the cost of inaction. If further budget cuts become necessary, they should be made with at least some thought.
