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Conservatively Speaking
State Senator Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) represents parts of four counties: Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine, and Walworth. Her Senate District 28 includes New Berlin, Franklin, Greendale, Hales Corners, Muskego, Waterford, Big Bend and parts of Greenfield, East Troy, and Mukwonago. Senator Lazich has been in the Legislature for more than a decade. She considers herself a tireless crusader for lower taxes, reduced spending and smaller government.
Jim Doyle’s $5.4 billion forecast or, is there more to the story?
By Mary Lazich
Wednesday, Nov 26 2008, 08:11 AM
Last week, Governor Doyle made a grim announcement that resulted in this headline on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s website:
State deficit forecast rises to $5.4 billion by mid-2011
Stop the presses!
Todd Berry, president of the nonpartisan, non-profit Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance believes the governor’s math is off, way off.
On one of its blogs, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports, “(Berry) says Gov. Jim Doyle's new estimate of a $5.4-bllion budget deficit between now and mid-2011 is ‘unreal’ and based on ‘double counting.’ In an interview, Berry said the $5.4-billion number assumes that state agencies will get an additional $2.8 billion in spending they requested for the next two years -- a ‘fictitious’ assumption.
And, Berry said, Doyle's scenario also assumes that the so-called ‘structural balance’ -- the long-term imbalance between spending commitments and tax collections - remains at $800 million per year for each of the next two years. That's about $1.6 billion of Doyle's $5.4-billion deficit. Berry said.”
Berry then spoke to the Eau Claire Area Chamber of Commerce, as reported by the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram that quoted Berry saying, "A little bit of fear is not necessarily a bad thing if you're trying to run the show. (The $5.4 billion figure) presumes spending requests will be OK'd next year. And it's difficult to predict revenue." The newspaper also reported, “Berry said a more accurate number would be ‘in the neighborhood’ of $2 billion, figuring there will be some spending cuts and tax increases.”
So what is the governor up to? I have to wonder if the governor isn’t purposely sounding like Chicken Little, painting the dire picture of the worst budget crisis in Wisconsin history, whipping state residents into a collective depression of epic proportions.
Why the bearer of such bad news? Think about it. The governor overstates the budget debacle by a country mile, allowing him to offer dramatic, headline-grabbing spending cuts as solutions. If a Republican posed such measures, the press would label them, “draconian.” Editorial boards will rave, though, about Doyle, calling the governor and his moves, “courageous.” Undoubtedly, the governor and legislative Democrats will also salivate at the opportunity to seek new revenues, i.e., raise taxes.
At the end of the day, when the dust clears and the true budget deficit is actually much smaller, the governor and Democrat lawmakers will claim victory and come off as fiscal conservative heroes. For Governor Doyle, creating the illusion that he’s fiscally conservative is critical because he’s up for possible re-election in two years. If the Democrat-controlled Legislature hammers home a heavily liberal agenda as expected, the governor needs something to separate himself and run on in 2010. Riding on a white horse as a fiscal conservative could be his ticket.
I trust Todd Berry and the outstanding work done by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance. Undoubtedly, the state’s fiscal matters are in need of repair, but it seems not to the extent the governor, who has drawn up a script that crowns him the hero who saves the day, would have us believe.
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