Wednesday, March 15, 2000
Budget time lot like game show
BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FRANKFORT — When it comes to the Golden Rule, state capitol politics is a lot like life — those with the gold make the rules.
It's budget time in Frankfort, the portion of the General Assembly session when the days are running out — just 12 days to go in this session — and the grab for cash is on.
Picture a combination of Let's Make a Deal and Who Wants to be a Millionaire, with Gov. Paul Patton playing a hybrid of Monty Hall and Regis Philbin.
The governor has a modest tax increase package he wants to get through the legislature. He needed Republican votes to win approval in the House.
So like Monty, Mr. Patton held out a fistful of cash to Republican lawmakers.
The message from the administration and House leadership was clear to the GOP members of the House — let's make a deal.
Support the $180 million tax increase, and we just might find some money for those projects you want funded in your district.
Well, guess what happened. According to an analysis by The Courier Journal of Louisville,12 of the 13 Republican lawmakers who voted for the tax package were rewarded with projects for the folks back home.
Among those GOP House members is Rep. Jon Draud, a freshman from Crestview Hills.
After Mr. Draud voted for the tax package on the House floor — he was the only GOP member from Northern Kentucky to vote in favor — the Democrat-controlled House budget committee inserted almost $1 million for projects in Mr. Draud's 63rd House District.
The projects are mostly small public improvements such as sidewalks and the like in the suburbs Mr. Draud represents.
We're not implying that Mr. Draud voted for a tax increase — which can always come back to haunt a politician at re-election time — just to get some sidewalks for his district.
Mr. Draud is a stand-up guy who has already proven he isn't going to follow party lines and vote in lockstep with his GOP colleagues. He was one of the first Northern Kentucky lawmakers who signed on to the controversial plan to raise the region's hotel tax.
We merely use Mr. Draud as an example of how the game is played in Frankfort.
“It's been going on for years down here,” said Rep. Paul Marcotte, R-Union, who didn't vote for the tax increase and saw some projects in his district disappear from the budget.
“It's politics. And this is one political place.”
Mr. Patton hasn't shown that he is overly punitive with his budget. For instance, he has been generous to Northern Kentucky as a whole and Northern Kentucky University in particular.
There are no guarantees that Mr. Patton's budget will even come close to surviving in the GOP-controlled Senate. So he is ready to deal.
“It probably won't pass the Senate,” said Sen. Jack Westwood, R-Erlanger, who said Tuesday he isn't about to vote for any tax increases.
All told, the House budget committee inserted about 100 new spending projects in the budget after the tax increase passed in the House. Those will cost taxpayers about $70 million in debt and $6 million in cash.
Like other senators, particularly those with an “R” behind their names, Mr. Westwood will be under pressure to either vote for the budget or risk losing money for projects in Northern Kentucky.
Imagine Mr. Patton coming to a GOP senator and asking, “Will you support my tax increase?”
The senator replies, “No, Governor, I can't.”
“Is that your final answer?,” Mr. Patton asks in his best Regis take.
Because if it is, the money that may have been heading to a certain senator's district may now be heading elsewhere.
Patrick Crowley covers Kentucky politics for The Kentucky Enquirer. His column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. He can be reached at 578-5581, or (502) 875-7526 in Frankfort, or by e-mail at crowleys@cinci.infi.net.
