By JOHN HOOD
RALEIGH – The latest reports on Wednesday night made it clear that Gov. Mike Easley and legislative leaders were close to or had reached an agreement on a revised state budget for FY 2002-03. The elements of the deal appeared to take a little from here, a little from there, fund a sliver of Easley’s initiative for class-size reduction (after the lottery’s drubbing on Tuesday, he needed something resembling a win), and leave the governor with a sizable hole to fill with additional, unspecified cuts (read more about it here: http://www.heraldsun.com/state/6-268402.html).
Basically, the agreement fails to reconcile planned spending and estimated revenue. It is not a balanced budget. It is at least arguably unconstitutional for that reason.
No matter. As we have seen this year, the rules that govern the state legislature and our state government as a whole are increasingly seen as little more than technicalities to evade or define away. If the latest budget deal violates the state constitution’s requirement of a balanced budget, who is going to sue, and whom? The line at the courthouse is already growing rather long, what with cities and counties suing the Easley administration to get their local taxes back.
Folks with decades of collective experience in Raleigh circles tell me they have never seen such disarray, such confusion, and such blatant disregard for law and procedure as has been displayed in the past few days. Once we get the final budget agreement, its contents may provide further shocks, with panicky members slipping in all sorts of goodies to reward their friends, punish their foes, and shore up their political support as a highly competitive election for House and Senate approaches.
House Speaker Jim Black appears exhausted and crushed by the incredible personal and political pressures of the 2002 session. Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight is frustrated and, for the first time, fearful about his political future. Gov. Easley is livid – threatening and blustering and losing support fast (his latest publicly released approval numbers in the low 40s).
The final budget deal, if it does appear Thursday as planned, will be likely be ugly, wrong-headed, costly to taxpayers, and unconstitutionally unbalanced. But at least it will bring this sorry spectacle to an end.