Commentary
Gov. Schweitzer’s Budget Bravado
Schweitzer, premature and seemingly out of nowhere, has decided he must save the budget again. To get his point across, he compared lawmakers to cattle.
By Kellyn Brown, 2-01-09
Gov. Brian Schweitzer has come out of hiding. He’s putting pressure on Montana lawmakers to begin crafting a state budget as only he can – by comparing himself to an off-road vehicle: “I was in 2-wheel drive, and now I have put it in 4-wheel drive. I am going to use the strength of the 4-wheel drive I have in the governor’s office to move things forward.” But to what end?
Legislators are clearly tentative to make any spending decisions until the Obama administration pushes a massive stimulus plan through Congress. Montana, like every other state, is poised to receive billions in federal dollars, which lawmakers say could influence how some state programs get funded. So what’s the big hurry?
Maybe Schweitzer is having a flashback to the last session, when lawmakers skirted their primary responsibility by failing to agree on budget within 90 days. Then, the governor successfully prodded moderate Republicans in a secret meeting to sign off on his spending requests at a special session.
Schweitzer, premature and seemingly out of nowhere, has decided he must save the budget again. To get his point across, he compared lawmakers to cattle.
“When I hear we are going to stall the process, and I hear things that are an irrational basis for why we are stalling, it seems to me we need to get this thing moving along again,” Schweitzer said. “Maybe I’m just giving it a little whistle – get things moving.”
Legislators, even in the governor’s own party, have responded to the posturing with a collective shrug.
Democratic House Speaker Bob Bergren, who leads the evenly split chamber, said he and his colleagues are taking a “calm, cool and in control” approach to the budget. He added that the governor’s approach was “unfortunate.”
“I want to do it (the budget) once, I want to do it right,” Bergren told the Associated Press. “I think we are fine. I just think we don’t need to get into too big a hurry.”
It’s unclear what Schweitzer hopes to accomplish by publicly calling out lawmakers this early in the session. In these rough economic times, legislators won’t dare risk failing to pass a budget on time – again – and be forced to call a taxpayer-funded extension to the session, would they? Not likely.
Maybe Schweitzer is spending some of the political capital he earned by routing Republican opponent Roy Brown in the last election. But, again, to what end? State lawmakers are in the unenviable position of assessing what, if anything, federal stimulus dollars will do for the state’s coffers. And their cautious approach is the right one.
At the same time, there are dozens of spending decisions unlikely to be affected by the economic stimulus before lawmakers, and the prospect of federal dollars should not be allowed to delay the difficult work of setting budgets for prisons, schools and other state agencies. If a few more dollars become available in April for some pressing need, adding some money back into a lean budget will be the easy part.
It’s admirable that Schweitzer is assuming a higher profile. We do need leaders, but also ones that at least provide a perception that steady hands are at the wheel. Instead, with the hasty criticism, Helena appears divided on how to approach its finances.
If it was late March and lawmakers still hadn’t made progress on the budget, then the governor’s urgency would be justified. But for legislators to be patient with the state’s dwindling coffers is prudent. The first federal rescue plan aimed at shoring up banks has been panned for, among other things, being passed too quickly with little oversight.
Schweitzer is the most influential politician in the state and it’s encouraging that we may begin hearing more from him. I just hope he uses his newfound voice for something other than alienating lawmakers.
[End of article]This piece carries a common mis-perception about this legislature. Journalists find it much easier to fixate their attention on the personalities of the legislature, instead of the complex realities of the legislative process--which would bore readers more than easy-to-understand character profiles, like Schweitzer. Phrases like "Budget Bravado" and Kellyn's reference to Schweitzer alienating legislators makes clear he has little background on the Montana legislature.
The GOP controls many of the legislative mechanisms of power this time around, and for Kellyn Brown to focus on Schweitzer's personality as having anything to do with this fundamental power balance is naive and uninformed. I get tired of news outlets who can't deliver any insight about the legislative process relying on personality profiles and personal characterizations to support their barely-informed views of the process. Kellyn is allowing the Republicans to get off the hook by claiming Schweitzer is a bully or something because they're in reality dragging their heels on everything he wants to do for montana.
If you were a a republican, why would you help Schweitzer be successful? You would run the risk of being ostracized from your own party, and the potential to get a targetted primary opponent in your next race to boot, both of which the GOP has done time and again to their own kind who support anything the other side does. Why doesn't your "analysis" discuss this fundamental reality Kellyn?
I'm with you leg watcher. These character-focused pieces obscure the real power balance issues that have much more to do with legislative progress or digress than the popular stereotypes regurgitated over and over again by journalists who just don't get it.
Any political journalist worth their salt knows that the budget battles are the battleground for those trying to stall their opponents. I agree with leg watchers example of the what-if situation facing republicans. Look at how they've skewered their own people after any hint of cutting deals with the other side--from Kitzenberg to Mike Lange. The more people call Schweitzer' all these boombastic, bully, macho sounding names, they clearly don't understand his rapport with legislators or his poltical style. Uninformed observers. Dissapointing Kellyn.
One one is stalling this is just how the process has worked for the last 30 plus years. It is obvious that Leg watcher and marion's berry work for the bombastic governor. for the Bombastic governor to say he is putting the truck in 4 wheel drive is just insane. The bravado laden governor has not power or say on how any piece of legislation moves especially the budget. Kellyn gives the governor too much juice when it comes to pushing legislation - unless the bombastic governor is bullying and threatening legislators like he has done in the past. In fact the dems have destroyed their own like always - just look at Rep. Bill Thomas - he got booted by his very liberal left socialist buddies for trying to work with republicans last session - not to mention all the threats by the bombastic governor. Good comments by Speaker Bergren. The governor is just a bombastic wind bag
Comment By Leg Watcher, 2-04-09Not that stuip is apparently that stuip. For the record, I do not work for the Governor, and am an independent in terms of party affiliation.
It's not about party affiliation, it's about commenting on the legislature with some sense of realism. By your repeating the Bombastic line over and over, it's clear persona has more to do with your analysis than realism. Stuip.
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