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PAGE 16A
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS - Sunday, April 4,2004
The Forsyth County News
Opinion
This is a page of opinions - ours, yours and others.
Signed columns and cartoons are the opinions of the
writers and artists and may not reflect our views.
Budget follies
continue at Capitol
After watching what,
at the time, seemed
a painfully inept
marathon session of the
state’s General Assembly
last year, most Georgians
hoped for something better
in the 2004 gathering of the
state’s legislative body.
And while this year's
session hasn't been a repeat
of die numbing, seemingly
endless grind of last year's
folly, neither has it been a
shining example of law
making at its best.
Law makers have given a
lot of lip service to a few
pieces of controversial
business but have failed to
take care of their top annu
al priority the comple
tion of a state budget.
They will return
Wednesday to see if they
can finish in a day what
they have managed not to
do since the session began
in January, which is to put
the stamp of approval on a
spending plan for the next
fiscal year. Failing the
adoption of a budget, the
spectre of a special session
looms, as the new fiscal
year begins July I and a
spending plan must be in
place before then.
The Assembly is divided
along partisan lines of
course over what to do
with the budget. Specific
big ticket issues have
become partisan causes.
The Republican controlled
Senate favors more spend
ing to support Medicaid,
and cuts to public educa
tion; the Democrat con
trolled House wants to
pump more money into
education while cutting
Medicaid. The governor,
meanwhile, has yet to show
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"You’re late? ...Hey, this time change is hard on a lot of us!"
the political strength need
ed to bring an end to the
debate.
Little that has happened
in the budget preparation
process to this point has
provided a foundation of
credibility for the efforts of
the governor and the mem
bers of the General
Assembly. Over the course
of the past several weeks,
revenue estimates have
gone up and down; mil
lions in dollars have been
inexplicably “found” after
previously being thought
not to exist; pork barrel
projects have been support
ed and approved despite a
supposedly austere finan
cial picture. One day there
isn’t any money for HOPE,
the next day there is. One
day Medicaid is broke, the
next day it isn't.
Just last week Gov.
Sonny Perdue announced
at the 11 th hour that more
than S2OO million expected
in nursing home taxes from
the federal government
would not be forthcoming.
Between the political
Chicken Littles and all the
Boys (and Girls) Who
Cried Wolf, it isn't surpris
ing that the budget process
seems like something Alice
would have found through
the looking glass.
An octopus equipped
with hands wouldn’t have
enough appendages for all
the finger pointing needed
to pinpoint blame.
The preparation of the
state budget is the single
most important thing the
legislative body does each
year. That it has come
down to a final day, do-or
die battle is an insult to the
people of the state.
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Wacky week overshadows budget woes
What a week!
• A rookie congress
woman from DeKalb County
decides to run as a Democrat
for the U.S. Senate. Rep.
Denise Majette begins her
campaign with a stinging
attack on Georgia conserva
tives. meaning an overwhelm
ing majority of the state’s
voters. So much for the
Senate career of 4th District
Rep. Majette.
• Former Rep. Cynthia
McKinney, who has
expressed sympathy for pur
veyors of terrorism and criti
cism of the Jewish communi
ty, announces she will seek a
comeback in the Congress, as
a representative from the 4th
District. Political oddsmakers
say she might win.
• Atlanta City Council
President Cathy Woolard,
who is openly gay. announces
she’ll also run for Congress
from the 4th District. She’s a
long shot.
• The Georgia House
approves a proposed constitu
tional amendment to prohibit
same-sex marriages, but says
no to an addendum banning
adultery. Lotharios in every
corner of the Gold Dome
breathe a sigh of relief.
• The Georgia Senate
spends eight hours debating
tort reform. Part of the dis
cussion is devoted to whether
a human life is worth, at
most, $750,000.
The Senate adopts a bill
(without the price tag) that is
a lawyer’s dream, so compli
cated that no one can figure
out what it says or means.
“Never have so many said so
much about so little,” smirks
£
Bin
Shipp
an observer from the House.
• Fulton County Sheriff
Jackie Barrett admits “losing”
$2 million in public funds
that she invested with a
Florida securities guy. She
also has a reputation for los
ing county prisoners from the
sieve-like Fulton County jail.
With such a vast array of
entertaining headlines, your
humble commentator hates to
mention such a dull topic as
the state budget.
However, while the sl6
billion spending plan may not
contain much attention-grab
bing glitter, it is easily the
most critical item on our state
government's agenda.
The state budget process is
plainly out of control. The
House and Senate are at log
gerheads over proposed
reductions in Gov. Sonny
Perdue’s budget.
The Democratic House
contends that Gov. Perdue has
proposed severe cuts in edu
cation that will force increas
es in local property taxes and
may cost as many as 5,000
teaching jobs.
Not true, says the
Republican Senate leader
ship, the governor is headed
in the right direction, trying
to save Medicaid and other
healthcare programs.
No matter which side is
correct, Gov. Perdue may
have inadvertently done the
state a huge favor. For the
Letters
Sharon officials
doing good job
As one who is affected by
the events at Sharon
Elementary, and on behalf of
many Forsyth County School
System members, I want to
commend Dr. Janet Reid and
the administrative staff for
their deliberations and subse
quent action taken (not easily
done but with justice).
Unfortunately for this
“teacher of the year,” she has
not generated the sympathy
that was sought, but instead
she has further hurt her own
reputation by loudly pro
claiming herself as a victim.
Incidentally, the “teacher
of the year" is with respect to
the teacher's term at Settles
Bridge last year, not for this
year at Sharon. The voting
takes place at the beginning
of the current school year
reflecting the previous year’s
performance.
It is clear that there is so
much more to the events that
led up to this “resignation"
that was not mentioned; this
information would have bal
anced the reporting and given
us a greater understanding of
the facts. What happed to the
“we report, you decide” phi*
losophy, hmm? If the FCN’s
first time in memory, a gover
nor has allowed a public peek
at Georgia’s ramblin', gam
blin’ method of setting the
budget. It involves guesswork
and probably even tea leaves,
with tens of millions vanish
ing and suddenly reappearing.
Settling on a state budget
is the only “must do” item on
the governor's and the
Legislature's agenda.
Everything else, from
stopping gays at the altar to
saving docs from ambulance
chasers, can be pushed aside.
The governor and the General
Assembly have known since
Day One of this legislative
session that they must agree
on a prudent budget for serv
ices in these money-tight
times.
Yet they have dawdled
until the end of the session
and allowed extraneous mat
ters to supersede their con
cern with how taxpayers’ dol
lars will be spent.
Now\ at the 11 th hour,
Perdue has taken a hard-line
“my way or the highway”
stance on the money bill,
according to a knowledgeable
source.
Trying to sort out the
budget mess and playing leg
islative chicken with tax
receipts at the end of the leg
islative session almost ensure
serious errors and future
crises.
Part of the reason that
Republicans have attained
power in Atlanta and
Washington is a promise to
bring more fiscal order and
conservatism to the table.
That promise has not been
kept.
goal was to provide a biased
view of Sharon Elementary’s
plight, misleading the citi
zens of this county and sling
ing mud in the face of this
school’s administration ...
well, congratulations, you've
done your job.
Mary Cook
Cumming
Where is the
progress?
I have been a resident of
Cumming for 10 years. I saw
your article in this Sunday's
paper on “Progress.” 1 would
like to see your paper print
the other form of 'Progress’
that we all see but do not talk
about it.
• Crowded streets (traffic)
• Crowded schools (trail
ers for class rooms)
• Pollution
• Increase in crime
• Increase in drugs
• Increase in Taxes!
• Loss of trees and country
look
• Increase in corruption
1 also would like someone
to explain to me why we
need 700-home communities
and [to] develop all land.
What do we want, a commu-
Federal deficits have spi
raled through the roof. The
state budget is in such a mess
that even old hands at state
appropriations can't make
heads or tails of it.
In addition, the Perdue
administration is setting new
records for bonded indebted
ness with sl.l billion in pro
posed new lOUs. (As a state
senator. Perdue routinely
voted against additional state
bonds, which never
approached the billion-dollar
level.)
However, all is not lost.
Once the current budget has
been adopted, Republican
leaders have an opportunity,
at the state level anyhow, to
lead a bipartisan campaign
for budget reform.
They could propose a state
budget commission to estab
lish revenue estimates and
devise a firm formula, based
on previous tax collections,
for writing budget parame
ters. And they could spear
head a move to abolish the
so-called supplemental budg
et. which is nothing more
than an annual roll call of
corrections to the guesswork
in the “big budget."
Thoughtful Georgians
would applaud such a move,
though admittedly reorganiz
ing the budget process is not
nearly as enthralling as won
dering for 40 days about
who’s sticking it to whom ...
or maybe that was really this
Legislature’s focus after all.
Bill Shipp's column
appears each Sunday and
Wednesday. His e-mail
address is hshipp@bell
south.net.
nity of buildings and traffic
trying to move around? I
think most people do not.
Keep out the greedy develop
ers and save our community
Joseph Scially
Cumming
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