FRANKFORT — Gov. Paul Patton said Wednesday there will be no special legislative session until Senate Republicans drop their insistence on eliminating public financing of gubernatorial campaigns.

        House Republican Leader Jeff Hoover weighed in with a compromise proposal to include public financing in the budget, but bar state contracts to contributors to candidates and political parties.

Patton

        Mr. Hoover said his alternative would meet the “goal of all interested parties” in fair elections without the taint of big money. He offered his proposal in a letter to Mr. Patton, Senate President David Williams and House Speaker Jody Richards.

        Mr. Patton said he is prepared to operate state government without a budget enacted by the legislature when the new fiscal year starts on July 1. And that spending plan will include matching funds for gubernatorial slates that take public financing.

        Mr. Williams has said the governor is not empowered to spend money on public financing without specific authority, but Mr. Patton said he would do so unless prevented by the courts.

        In a letter to Mr. Patton and Democratic legislators last week, Mr. Williams said he wanted to meet to draft a budget, but only if Democrats dropped their insistence on retaining public financing, which has been in place since 1992.

        “Until they offer a constructive proposal, there is no reason to meet,” Mr. Patton said.

        In a letter released Wednesday, Mr. Patton told Mr. Williams he would examine any budget proposal and then decide whether to meet with lawmakers. Mr. Patton said he asked for just such a meeting on the second day of the special session and was ignored.

        “I see no reason to spend more time and money unless there is a reasonable chance of success, which, based on your letter and press release, does not appear likely,” Mr. Patton said in the letter.

        Mr. Hoover said the whole issue of campaign finance “should be debated extensively” before the next regular meeting of the legislature. Mr. Patton's office said he had not seen Mr. Hoover's proposal and could not respond, but in the letter to Mr. Williams the governor said campaign finance was a legitimate subject for debate, but not by changing the rules while candidates are already running.

        Mr. Patton said his spending plan would ignore some specific state laws that are routinely suspended in budget bills. For example, state law requires a 5 percent annual pay raise for state workers. Patton said his spending plan would give 2.7 percent raises, which was the sum agreed to in separate budgets adopted by the House and Senate.

        “We certainly won't be a party to shutting down state government,” Mr. Patton said.

        Of more immediate fiscal concern is the continued slowdown in revenue receipts this year. Mr. Patton said there would be another revenue shortfall this fiscal year, on top of the $500 million already cut. He declined to guess at the amount but said it was likely the state would once again have to dip into its rainy day fund to make up the difference.

        “The magnitude of that shortage, we don't know,” Mr. Patton said.

        Even with the shortfall, Mr. Patton said his spending plan for the 2003 fiscal year beginning July 1 would basically be the same as the House-passed budget and use the same revenue estimates.

        Mr. Williams accused Mr. Patton of “playing a dangerous game of political chicken with our state's budget.”

        But in his earlier letter, Mr. Williams also acknowledged that it was the legislature's responsibility to pass a state spending plan. The General Assembly passed a budget for itself, but no plans for the executive or judicial branches in the 60-day regular session or an eight-day special session.

        Mr. Williams said he does not dispute Mr. Patton's ability to order state spending on essential services in the absence of a budget.

        Though there is no budget, there is no shortage of political blame going around.

        Democrats say the GOP wants to abandon public financing so it can buy the governor's race next year. Republicans said the Democrats want to continue “welfare for politicians.”

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