Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 14, 1990 TAG: 9007160180
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But that's a $300 million revenue gap in the state's biennial budget of $26 billion. Virginia is not going to break loose from the mainland and sink into the Atlantic if members of the General Assembly don't rush to Richmond to anchor her down.
Gov. Douglas Wilder is right to resist calls made recently by some lawmakers, including Dels. Vic Thomas of Roanoke and Dick Cranwell of Vinton, for a special session so they can help him cut the budget.
Thomas suggested that Wilder should not have to catch all the political flak. Legislators, he says, are "not without guilt because we've spent every nickel that wasn't nailed down. The way things are going . . . I don't know that the governor would want to take all of the responsibility and the heat for cutting deeper than what he's proposed so far."
But that is Wilder's job, under law. The 1990-1992 budget bill states unequivocably that if revenue estimates drop below general fund appropriations, the governor "shall" reduce the expenditures and withhold allotments of appropriations to the extent necessary to keep the budget balanced.
Wilder has given no indication that he wants to shirk his duty or that he's incapable of handling budgetary matters in a reasonable and responsible way. On the contrary, his first task was to deal with revenue deficits that showed up before he was even inaugurated, and he did so expeditiously. At the same time, he took steps to cushion the state budget against a serious economic downturn.
Cranwell's reasoning for a special session is that it may be necessary to discover why the state's recent revenue projections have been so far off the mark. "Then we can get our revenues properly forecast in the coming year," he says.
Legislators, it is true, have as much interest as the governor in discovering the cracks in the econometric crystal ball that brought about these budget difficulties. If existing revenue forecasting techniques are no longer any good, then a better system has got to be put in place.
That goal will not be well-served, however, by getting all 140 legislators together to theorize and pontificate. A special session would be little more than a forum for political posturing and finger pointing.
It has already started. The chairman of the Republican legislative caucus, Del. Frank Hargrove of Henrico, had this to say: "I believe the legislature should get back in session to straighten this out. Democrats had better listen to what Republicans have been saying . . . that the way you're doing it, boys, it's going to catch up with you. Now it has caught up with them. Democrats obviously have screwed it up and it's getting worse."
Wilder shouldn't try to be the lone ranger - as is sometimes his bent. Legislators - particularly those who serve on the key money committees, including the House Finance panel of which Cranwell is chairman - need to be clued in and regularly consulted as Wilder prepares to deal with the revenue shortfall.
But that is his job. Until there's evidence he can't handle it, the legislators should quiet themselves and let him get on with his work.
by CNB