Flip Flops or Thongs?

Senator Kedzie is reminding Governor Doyle of his position on a split budget from a few short weeks ago.

As of late, it is becoming more and more difficult to keep track of the many times Gov. Doyle has said one thing, but then does the complete opposite. Most notable has been his complete about-face on crafting a “no tax increase” budget. For the last four years, he has sounded more like a Republican in his pledge and action to hold the line on any tax increases. But soon enough, we came to realize that the governor could not maintain the charade for very long and introduced a budget that would increase income, excise and property taxes by more than $3 billion.

In the latest twist, the governor said he would not accept a budget that is broken out into various pieces—or a “piecemeal”—budget. You may recall the Assembly Republicans passed a bill to adopt the school funding portion of the budget. Funding for public schools represents about 40% of the entire budget, so this was a significant portion, which essentially mirrored the governor’s request for such funding. But the governor immediately criticized the Assembly for taking such action. Here is what he said just a few weeks ago:

September 17, 2007

“There is really no way just take out one part of the budget and pass a bill on it because everything fits together,” Doyle said.

“They (Assembly Republicans) all know this piecemeal budget isn’t going anywhere and so they’re kind of wasting everyone’s time.”

September 28, 2007

“I mean, a budget’s a budget. And as I’ve said all along, we’re not going to go down the road of piecemeal budgeting, or we turn into the United States Congress in no time.”

Last month, the governor objected to an incomplete budget. But guess what? The new special session bill he has introduced is incomplete. Whatever happens this Monday in both the Assembly and Senate may already be predetermined. But even if both houses adopted the special session budget, we would have to come back into session and take up the transportation portion of the budget, which is not included in the governor’s special session budget.

So for Gov. Doyle, it’s “Do as I say, and not as I do—unless I change my mind again, then just ignore what I said or did.”

1. A thong, please.

   Come on Owen this is such old news.

   The budget “stalemate” has accomplished 2 things for both parties.

   1) A bigger window for special interests to play the corruption and bribery game we call campaign cotributions.

   2) Made the passing of the budget bigger news than what is in it. Oh the drama!

   Oh! Forgot one. Your citizen’s group gets to throw a “bash”.

   Other than demanding no increase in taxes(good luck on that one),anything substansive to offer in the way of where we should cut?

   In contrast to your position in your local school district, you always seem to accept borrowing and aome real pork at the state level?

   What gives?

   Posted by on October 13, 2007 at 0021 hrs




2. I assume this means Sen. Kedzie will shortly be issuing a press release goosing the Speaker for his flip-flop on the cigarette tax increase?

   Posted by on October 13, 2007 at 0705 hrs




3. Not “a thong.” Thongs.  Get your mind out of your ass crack. 

   As far as this…

   anything substansive to offer in the way of where we should cut?

   I have answered this question time and time again.  You’ve been around long enough to know that. 

   And this…

   In contrast to your position in your local school district, you always seem to accept borrowing and aome real pork at the state level?

   What gives?

   Where do you get that?  I oppose pork at all levels.  And I think that borrowing is a sensible thing to do at times - but not excessively.  My opposition to the school referendum has nothing to do with the bonding.  If we are to build a new school, then bonding makes a lot more sense than paying for it with the operating budget.  What I oppose about the school referendum is that there is too much of it with which I disagree.  I agree with some of it, but not enough to make me vote for it.

   Posted by Owen on October 13, 2007 at 0737 hrs




4. Nice how he forgets to mention that the bill the Assembly passed was for more than it had budgeted for schools, so it put the Assembly budget as a whole in the red—which meant it wasn’t a budget and was illegal.  It’s irresponsible to call something a budget which doesn’t balance, as it has to do in this state.

   That bill was, in other words, a far too transparent political ploy—as it was seen as that, and thus the thud that followed it.

   Had the Assembly passed it in conjunction with decreases elsewhere in their budget as a whole, they could have made some major points as the responsible ones, rather than looking like they don’t know that the whole budget has to balance.

   Posted by on October 13, 2007 at 1228 hrs




5. Kay -

   Apparently we have to go through this again with you…

   AB 506/507 were passed separate of the Assembly GOP budget.  They were fully funded with general fund dollars that are available until such time as a whole state budget draws down the available pot of money… See how that works?

   By passing them first, technically, the state had almost $16 billion to spend on education.

   You are technically correct, that combined with the actual GOP budget - which they weren’t - there would have been a shortage of dollars for the remainder of state spending.  After those two bills passed, the Assembly would have had to cut roughly $150 million from their original budget if that is the route they chose.

   But they weren’t illegal - that’s the silliest thing anyone has said to date regarding the education/shared revenue bills that the Assembly passed.

   Posted by on October 14, 2007 at 2325 hrs