Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Editorial: McDonnell is budget-shy
Budget-cutting is a dirty job no matter who does it. The new governor can't keep his hands clean.
From the RoundTable blog
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This year's General Assembly session is almost half over, and Gov. Bob McDonnell has yet to take the lead on the little matter of the state's $4.2 billion (and growing) budget deficit.
A lot of pain lies behind that number in the form of big spending cuts, almost certainly in health and education. The newly sworn-in Republican governor needs to make clear what he is willing to chop.
McDonnell is not missing in action, his spokesman insists. The governor is getting daily budget briefings and collaborating with lawmakers on the House and Senate money committees.
He has yet to send down budget amendments to the legislature, though, and it looks like he will not -- an extraordinary sloughing of responsibility in a state where much of the governor's considerable power is wielded with the budget pen.
McDonnell needs to step up to the task of setting his priorities with amendments to the two-year budget plan written by former Gov. Tim Kaine.
Democrat Kaine went only part of the distance to reconcile a $4.2 billion revenue shortfall with $2.3 billion worth of cuts in the 2010-12 budget. He proposed to close the remaining $1.9 billion gap with an income tax surcharge, rejected out of hand by the new governor.
Republicans cried foul, accusing Kaine of a partisan trick to force the newly elected governor into making unpopular spending cuts. The Democrat, after all, is head of his party's national committee. Partisanship may well have played a role.
At least as plausible, though, is Kaine's explanation that he submitted a budget that reflected his priorities, the duty of every governor.
He had hacked $7 billion from the state budget since 2007, responding to historic revenue declines. Another $4.2 billion cut over the next two years will call for draconian measures he was unwilling to take.
Granted, Kaine's priorities are not McDonnell's priorities, which must be guided by an overarching campaign promise: No tax increase. (Fees? Let's talk.)
Senators in both parties complain they are flailing in budget talks in the absence of clear direction from the governor: What of Kaine's cuts does he want to change? What others does he propose?
McDonnell needs to offer budget amendments that outline his plan as the leader not only of state Republicans, but of the commonwealth.
It's called the governor's budget in Virginia for a reason. He needs to make it his own.
