Any attempt to evaluate the record of Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher, as on today's Forum cover, must take into account the elephant in the living room: the state budget. Or rather, the lack of a state budget.

Amid deep partisan divisions, the General Assembly ended its session in mid-April without approving a biennial budget. If it does not meet in special session and pass a plan by June 30, Fletcher will enact an executive spending plan.

The budget impasse is a genuinely bipartisan failing, with a precedent. Two years ago, with a Democrat, Paul Patton, in the governor's office, the legislature got hung up over public financing of gubernatorial campaigns. Kentucky muddled along without a budget, and the issue was never resolved constitutionally.

The muddling has continued with the current crisis.

A lawsuit by Attorney General Greg Stumbo doesn't directly challenge Fletcher's authority to spend without a budget, but it does challenge his authority to suspend certain statutes that are routinely suspended by the legislature. This includes the farcical statutory cap on the number of state employees at 33,000. More than 43,000 are actually on the payroll. But another of those "suspendable" laws prohibits spending without an appropriation, so Stumbo would, in effect, thwart Fletcher's plan.

Enter Common Cause. The watchdog group bid last week to join the suit and force a decision on the real issue. It claims the governor's plan to spend without specific legislative appropriations violates the state constitution. It would try to persuade the judge to shut down the state government. To really get their attention, Common Cause would withhold lawmakers' paychecks.

Fletcher opposes the suit, and wants to avoid a challenge to his spending authority. To defuse the situation, he said this week he'd even call a special session after July 1 if he's assured a budget deal is likely.

Still, for the greater, long-term good, it may be best to force the issue, decide the constitutional question and make sure officials understand the consequences for failing to pass a budget. We cannot rely on the goodwill and negotiating skills of future governors and lawmakers.

Kentuckians shouldn't have to endure another no-budget mess.