RALEIGH – Has North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley done a far better job in his first year in office than his critics give him credit for?
That was the theme of a Sunday column by the Raleigh News & Observer’s senior political correspondent, Rob Christensen. He argued that while Easley experienced a difficult year – with a budget deficit, a partisan split in the House, and a trade- and terrorism-ravaged economy – the Democratic governor still accomplished much of his agenda, including a new preschool program, class-size reductions, and a prescription drug plan for seniors. (Read the column for yourself here.)
Christensen noted that Easley has an “Irishman’s gift for blarney,” but the usually sure-footed reporter seems to have been taken in by it, anyway. I sincerely believe that a completely neutral observer (which I grant I am not, on many of the relevant issues) would characterize Easley’s first year in office as a flop – though perhaps not a colossal one.
Although he rarely mentioned the issue during the general election campaign last year, Easley clearly made a state lottery the centerpiece of his legislative agenda in 2001, mostly notably by including it – irresponsibly, according to most legislators – in his two-year budget plan. Despite a few half-hearted lobbying efforts as the grueling session wore on, the governor never even saw his plan come up for a vote. The constellation of forces against it spanned the partisan and ideological divide. A serious attempt to build a pro-lottery coalition failed miserably, with its frustrated architect, Jay Reiff, departing the state a few weeks ago for a job in South Carolina.
As for his legislative “accomplishments,” they were small potatoes. His preschool program, “More at Four,” is nothing more than a memo to a state panel to come up with a program. It received only a token appropriation. His class-size reductions were more substantial, although limited to kindergarten and to at-risk schools – both major improvements to the idea, in my opinion. And the prescription drug deal didn’t make it into the state budget at all, receiving a little money late in the year from one of the tobacco-settlement foundations.
Easley didn’t get out in front of the $700 million-a-year state tax increase, as his defenders allege, but merely muscled into the picture once legislators had already signaled their intentions to raise taxes. His attempt to sell the tax hike to voters didn’t take, according to polls. We are the only state out there this year with a major tax increase in the midst of a recession, a status that is garnering mostly derision elsewhere (including in today’s Wall Street Journal). Now folks are talking about a possible primary challenge to the governor, if he decides to run for reelection at all in 2004.
If this is success, I’d hate to see Easley fail.