Golly, no one could have predicted the mess we are in...

The Citizen's Mark Kimble has an interesting blog post on the state budget fiasco.  You will recall that in the final days of last legislative session, Democrats--with the help of a few Republican enablers--hijacked the state budget process and without so much as a single hearing passed a $10.8 billion budget that was out of balance the moment it was signed.   The budget was founded on accounting gimmicks like delaying school payments, illegal maneuvers like ordering the cities to pay the state $30 million and topped off with items that were intentionally cruel, like eliminating the funding for a voucher program that allowed severely disable children to attend the private school of their choice. 

Now that budget is an astonishing $1.2 billion out of balance.  With only six months left in the fiscal year, it will be nearly impossible to fix the mess.  

Kimble seems to think that the Governor was somehow misled by poor forecasts. 

Government budgets are only as good as government economic forecasts. And less than a year ago, the forecast for the Arizona economy was way, way off.

In January 2008, Gov. Janet Napolitano presented her proposal for the fiscal 2009 budget to the Legislature. That’s the budget for the year that is now almost half-over, running from July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009.

In her budget message, Napolitano referred to “slow economic growth that we anticipate for much of 2008.”

Golly if only there had been someone who stood up early last year and pointed out that the Governor was making a huge mistake--someone to point out that her plan was foolish and the projections were wrong...

Who could that person be?  By Golly, that would be me.  Nearly a year ago--a full four months before the Governor forced her disastrous budget through the Legislature--I wrote a post called The Road to Bankruptcy 

There have been plenty of articles about Arizona's bleeding budget, but I'm going to be the first to use the "B" word.  Arizona is heading for bankruptcy.  We are not going to grow our way out of this problem.

Here's the most prescient part of the post.

But the easy choices have already been made; the gimmicks will soon be gone; the rainy day fund will soon be spent.  It's time for real leadership.  Instead, the Governor is saying "Nothing Down! No Payments until 2010."

Of course, she'll be gone in 2010 and we will be the ones paying off the credit cards.

The media's final defense of Napolitano "no one could have seen this coming" is going to fall on deaf ears.

 

Comments

[Jean McGrath]

I recently asked one of the House Democrat leaders why they voted for the budget when they had to be able to see the huge debt rolling down the road ready to engulf them. The answer was that they are Democrats and very much under the Governor's thumb and have to do what she says or the punishment is too dire to even talk about. I asked about the RINO's who voted for the budget and the answer was that everyone of them, unlike the D's who didn't even see the budget until the vote, got something in the budget.

[David A. Porter]

I have seen many a business crumble after incredible upswings in the market. A state is no different.

Unfortunately, during the ecstasy of a boom, it is nearly impossible for natural man to consider that a bust nearly always follows the boom.

Perhaps next time we will learn.

[Captain Obvious]

Greg-

I agree with you that the FY2008 Budget was HUGELY irresponsible.

That said, it's sad that someone as experienced with the legislative process as you continues to misrepresent the way it works.

In this post you say, “You will recall that in the final days of last legislative session, Democrats--with the help of a few Republican enablers--hijacked the state budget process...”

This is a falsehood and you know it.

The budget was agreed upon by both Senate President Tim Bee and House Speaker Jim Weiers, regardless of how they voted.

They had to agree to and approve of the budget because they are solely responsible for determining if or when a bill(s) move through the respective chamber they control. Senate Rule 8 clearly gives the Senate President sole authority to: 1) determine if a bill will be heard in Committee of the Whole, and 2) determine if a bill will be heard in Third Read or Final Read. This is the same for the Speaker in the House.

Therefore, it’s impossible for the minority to hijack the process. Any attempt to do so could have been easily quashed by the President and Speaker. Their failure to do so is a result of their support of the budget.

[Carl Hay]

I must disagree with the contention that Mark Kimble "thinks." I have known Mark since he was editor of the Wildcat, and I have never seen any evidence of thought out of him.

I wonder what he will be doing when Gannett pulls the plug on the Tucson Citizen.

[Dave K.]

Gee Captain O, you don't suppose that the Speaker and the President bowed to the inevitability of political reality, do you?

You don't think that maybe they saw the writing on the press room wall, and could imagine the "Republicans shut down the State Government!" headlines screaming from the front page of every bird cage liner in the state for days on end the second they even attempted to keep JNo's masterful attempt at smoke and mirrors accounting from coming to a vote?

No, I'm sure that had nothing at all to do with it. It's really all about rules and procedure, and they were just hunky dory with every line of that budget.

So what color are the clouds where you live? ...

[Captain Obvious]

Dave K-

That’s exactly my point. The Legislative Republicans "lost" the budget negotiations fair and square. Characterizing the budgets as having been “hijacked” is dishonest.

They failed to convince the general public of their position and, as a result, conceded spending increases. It mirrors Janet’s FY07 acceptance of $1 billion a year in tax cuts to ensure her re-election.

[Dave K.]

Captain O, if you call having all the refs paid off before the game starts "fair and square", than I won't even bother to argue.

There was a time when people believed that the press was supposed to be the delievery service for "the news", not the cheerleading arm for the hard left wing of the Democratic Party.

That time, however, is gone. Gone with the press' subscriber base.

Cold comfort for all of us, isn't it?

[mark Kimble]

Mark Kimble is an idiot and should have been turned loose instead of Blake. I refuse to read his paper because he is a biased shill.

[Lisa]

Yes, Napolitano's actions were/are inexcusable and has left Arizona with a HUGE problem. So I have an idea...let's promote her to Secretary of Homeland Security. She's a proven leader with great leadership ideas and plans so she's earned a promotion. Just brilliant!