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Published on Wednesday, May 02, 2007 Guest Opinion: Schweitzer, lawmakers must share
blame, move forward
The best policy is the best
politics. Policies formulated in good faith to foster good government can
always be forthrightly defended for what they are.On the other hand, policies based on the best politics are usually identified for what they are, and are therefore indefensible if they fail. Sad to say in Montana today we have leadership more concerned with maneuvering than governing. We have the debacle of the recent legislative session to show for it. Our state constitution requires our executive and legislative branches to enact a balanced budget within a 90-day legislative session. This year, uniquely and historically, they couldn't get this job done when they had over a billion dollars in "surplus" taxpayers' money to do it with. One wonders what magnitude of calamity would have resulted if they had had $2 billion to disagree over. Now we await the call of the special legislative session necessary for our elected policymakers to finish their work. The Democrats remain steadfast in their commitment to large increases in funding for government services and programs. They advocate a 22 percent to 23 percent increase in state spending. Republicans, just as firmly, believe the surplus proves taxes are too high and that the law should be amended to return as much of the surplus as possible to the taxpayers on an on-going basis. Little support for savings The recent legislative session was a political feeding frenzy in which neither party appeared remotely concerned about putting some of the unexpected revenue windfall away in a savings account so that huge spending increases and tax cuts can be sustained when the economy sinks back to normal, as it inevitably will. There are powerful constituencies with their hands out for what government can give, and the best politics is to give it to them. It is not the best politics to set aside a third of the revenue for the inevitable rainy day. Good politics to win the next election becomes the guiding principle for those who have little perspective on the past and will be term-limited out of office long before their short-term thinking comes to term. The juvenile antics of House Majority Leader Michael Lange finger him as a poster child for the folly of keeping the Legislature free of seasoned and experienced leadership. It is certain that leadership matters critically in any organized human activity. Lange's approach to it is destructive and unproductive. But the real leader in our policymaking process is our governor. No proposal passed by the Senate and House can become law without the approval of the governor. No proposal can be enacted over the governor's objection except by a two-to-one majority of the entire Legislature. The governor is state government's ultimate leader and leading policymaker. Our governor has attempted to lay the blame for the failure of the legislative session on the legislators. Certainly they are blameworthy and deserve harsh criticism. To dramatize how they are to blame, the governor has declared that he won't pay them when he calls them back to finish their job. Of course he can't legally withhold their pay, but saying so is good politics, and it deflects blame from him. Schweitzer must lead He should take the lead, immediately, in gathering key legislative leaders together to begin work on an agreement. He and the others should check their egos at the door. But he should do the "heavy lifting" that good-faith leadership requires. He should do so with the goal in mind that many thousands of dollars of startup costs can be saved if the special session of the Legislature can be called within a week of the adjournment of the regular session. And, if the governor believes that receiving no pay is appropriate for those who haven't done their jobs, he can set the example by voluntarily contributing his pay to charity for the time of the special session. He can challenge the legislators to do the same. The governor and the Legislature, all accepting responsibility for their failure and all voluntarily sharing in the blame. Now that would be an example of the best kind of politics. It might create a climate for the best policies, too. Bob Brown, a Republican and former president of the Montana Senate, lost the 2004 governor's race to Brian Schweitzer. Brown is a senior fellow at the Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Missoula. Copyright © The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. |
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