The Kentucky General Assembly's inability to pass a budget by the end of its 2004 session Tuesday marks a callous and cynical betrayal of the Kentuckians the lawmakers supposedly were elected to represent.

Kentucky will get by, but numerous worthwhile projects, such as Northern Kentucky University's proposed special events center, will be delayed for at least a year, probably more. The modernization of Kentucky's tax structure - and prospects for the state's long-term economic growth - are increasingly in doubt.

Legislators in both parties ought to be ashamed of themselves for abandoning the public good and putting the state in budgetary limbo for the second time in three years. After a flurry of last-minute deal-pitching failed Tuesday, they fell back into what has been their default maneuver throughout the session - frenzied finger pointing. Lawmakers would not agree on a tax reform proposed by Gov. Ernie Fletcher - a reform Kentucky desperately needs in order to yank its economic policy into the 21st century.

The GOP-controlled Senate's stubborn insistence on convening Tuesday afternoon signaled its unwillingness to keep informal compromise talks going - talks that Fletcher actively encouraged - and wiped out the last day left in the 60-day session.

But the Democratic-led House has been obstructing the process for months, playing childish you-go-first games with the Senate, blocking votes and rejecting the Republican governor's tax-reform olive branches.

It is apparent that Democrats don't want tax reform. Period. Moreover, they seem incapable of dealing with the reality that after decades of running the show in Frankfort, they are part of a divided government headed by a Republican administration.

House Speaker Jody Richards already has signaled that he will immediately gavel into adjournment any special session Fletcher calls to force lawmakers to pass a budget. The governor, therefore, probably will opt to run Kentucky on a "continuation budget" until the legislature convenes in January.

It is an absolute disgrace, and Kentucky's voters should remember it in November.