In the wake of the controversy that ensued after Tim Kaine proposed a tax increase in the outgoing budget, I posted the following entry.
Hard Times, Frayed Nerves
Both were evident this week in the presentation and response to what Bob Lewis called Governor Kaine’s “brutal” budget message. “Folly.” “Gutshot” “Dead on Arrival,” and “Non-Starter” were just a few of the words used by the Governor and his detractors about the budget proposals. Kaine maintained that his recommendations were the same that he would have made had he been able to run and win a second term. His critics opined that it was the budget of someone who did have to be accountable for any of the choices he offered. In my opinion, it all pointed to the advisability of changing the state’s budget cycle so that the outgoing Governor is not proposing a new two year budget on his way out the door.
Governor-Elect Bob McDonnell will obviously be making significant adjustments to the budget that Governor Kaine has recommended. Today, he announced that he would be proposing a permanent fix to the state’s budget cycle that’s led to an unduly awkward transition situation.
This is not a brand new idea. In 2003, it was a central recommendation of the Wilder Commission established by then Governor Mark Warner. Former Governor Wilder was a strong proponent of the reform, believing that it both increased accountability and made the transition challenge of the incoming Governor far more manageable.
The idea was roundly applauded at the time, but no one expended much political capital on its behalf.
More recently, Ryan McDougle, Albert Pollard and Chris Saxman proposed very thoughtful measures similar to the Wilder Commission recommendations, but these also failed to gain the necessary support.
McDonnell deserves credit for not simply complaining about Kaine’s recommendations, but for his willingness to propose a long-term fix to a budget cycle way that is simply out of whack with the electoral cycle.
Budget cycle reform won’t rate high on any scale of political sexiness.
But it may be a good indication of McDonnell’s willingness to confront problems that have been allowed to linger longer than necessary.
**** It should be noted that having served as Executive Director of the Wilder Commission, I obviously have a positive bias toward the recommendation.
Given the amount of time the General Assembly spends on the “rump budget” each year –either trying to get it to balance in bad years or plundering the surplus for the next budget in good years — it would make just as much sense to go to annual budgeting. I suppose this would require 60-day sessions each year, but that isn’t much of a change.
The McDonnell proposal is also sensible.
Either would be preferable to today’s system.
How does a state end up with an onservably broken budget process year after year after year? How does a state fail to address the problem regardless of who is in control of the state legislature? Incompetence in the General Assembly. That’s the only answer. Just like transportation.
We need to gut the General Assembly. We also need a constitutional amendment to the state constiturion providing for a level of home rule. We can no longer afford to be governed by the type of people being elected to the goat rodeo in Richmnd.