Sunday, February 27, 2000
GOP flexes muscle, KOs gas-tax hike
BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FRANKFORT — We have finally seen the power of the Republican-controlled Kentucky Senate. And it is formidable.
Picture Gov. Paul Patton's failed tax plan as a carcass lying on the Capitol Rotunda floor with the 20 Senate Republicans standing over it, holding smoking rifles.
The governor wouldn't admit to a political defeat last week when he finally pulled the plug on his ill-conceived plan to raise the tax on gasoline.
With gas prices inching toward $2 a gallon, there hasn't been an idea that bad since taxpayers on the other side of the river gave Hamilton County commissioners $1 billion or so to build two stadiums.
Still, prices at the pump could be under a buck and it wouldn't make a difference to the GOP members of the Senate. All Mr. Patton had to say was “tax increase” and Republicans were ready to kill it.
Lots of Democrats, including some of Mr. Patton's closest allies in House leadership, backed off the plan. Did they oppose the governor's plan because it was bad policy or smart politics? House leaders had to have known that even if Mr. Patton could squeeze the tax-increase package through the Democratic-controlled House, Senate Republicans were waiting to pounce.
Surely the Democrats were asking themselves why they should fall on their swords for a plan that was doomed, a plan that would come up around election time, when the GOP would be all too happy to remind voters it was the Democrats in the House who voted for higher taxes while the Republicans in the Senate made sure the plan was buried.
Senate President David Williams, a Republican from Burkesville, said as much last week as word got out that the plan was DOA.
In fact, Mr. Williams was all too happy to take responsibility.
“We'll take any part of any kind of blame the administration wants to give or the majority party in the House wants to give,” Mr. Williams said.
“There is not strong support in the Republican caucus for major tax increases in this particular session, and it appears that our presence has made a difference on the tax issue,” he said.
This is what voters around the state, particularly those in Northern Kentucky, expected from the Republicans in the Senate.
It's a given we're going to get certain bills and initiatives from Republicans in Frankfort, especially when it comes to socially conservative causes like opposition to abortion, prayer in schools and no special rights for gays.
Even some of the most ardent Republican supporters, including a surprising number of local party leaders, have been saying they want to make sure Senators don't forget about the anti-tax, fiscal conservative constituency in Northern Kentucky. Which is, when you really think about it, just about everybody in the region on both sides of the political aisle.
The region's four GOP senators — Jack Westwood, Katie Stine, Dick Roeding and Ernie Harris — can take some credit for standing firm with their Republican colleagues in turning away the Patton tax plan.
Of course, there are no free rides in politics. Killing Mr. Patton's plan does nothing to solve the larger problem of the state not having enough money this year to balance its budget or maintain all of its roads.
Senate Republicans whacked the tax increases. Now they should jump in and try to come up with a plan to balance the budget.
Many senators, including those from Northern Kentucky, say Kentucky doesn't need tax increases because the state budget is bloated and ripe for cutting.
So cut away. Tell the Democrats and the voters what can and should be cut. Then see if that's as easy as simply saying, “No new taxes.”
Senate Republicans showed they have the muscle to take on the Democrats and win in Frankfort. Let's see if they can help find ways to balance the budget.
Patrick Crowley covers Kentucky politics for The Kentucky Enquirer. He can be reached at 578-5581, or (502) 875-7526 in Frankfort, or by e-mail at crowleys@cinci.infi.net.
