| Trite but true, an ancient axiom
of governing is that the best policy is the best politics. Policies
formulated in good faith to foster good government can always be
forthrightly defended for what they are.
On the other hand, policies based on the best politics are usually
identified for what they are too, and are therefore indefensible
if they fail. Sad to say in Montana today we have leadership more
concerned with maneuvering than governing. We have the debacle of
the recent legislative session to show for it.
Our state constitution requires our executive and legislative branches
to enact a balanced budget within a 90-day legislative session.
This year, uniquely and historically they couldn’t get this
job done when they had over a billion dollars in “surplus”
taxpayers’ money to do it with. One wonders what magnitude
of calamity would have resulted if they had had two billion dollars
to disagree over.
Now we await the call of the special legislative session necessary
for our elected policy makers to finish their work. The Democrats
remain steadfast in their commitment to large increases in funding
for government services and programs. They advocate a 22 to 23 percent
increase in state spending.
Republicans, just as firmly believe the surplus proves taxes are
too high and that the law should be amended to return as much of
the surplus as possible to the taxpayers on an on-going basis.
The recent legislative session was a political feeding frenzy in
which neither party appeared remotely concerned about putting some
of the unexpected revenue windfall away in a savings account so
that huge spending increases and tax cuts can be sustained when
the economy sinks back to normal as it inevitably will. There are
powerful constituencies with their hands out for what government
can give, and the best politics is to give it to them. It is not
the best politics to set aside a third of the revenue for the inevitable
rainy day.
Good politics to win the next election becomes the guiding principle
for those who have little perspective on the past and will be term
limited out of office long before their short- term thinking comes
to term. The juvenile antics of House Majority Leader Mike Lange
finger him as a “poster child” for the folly of keeping
the legislature free of seasoned and experienced leadership.
It is certain that leadership matters critically in any organized
human activity. Lange’s approach to it is destructive and
unproductive. But the real leader in our policy making process is
our governor. No proposal passed by the Senate and House can become
law without the approval of the governor. No proposal can be enacted
over the governor’s objection except by a two to one majority
of the entire legislature. The governor is state government’s
ultimate leader and leading policy maker.
Our governor has attempted to lay the blame for the failure of
the legislative session on the legislators. Certainly they are blameworthy
and deserve harsh criticism. To dramatize how they are to blame
the governor has declared that he won’t pay them when he calls
them back to finish their job. Of course he can’t legally
withhold their pay, but saying so is good politics, and it deflects
blame from him.
He should take the lead, immediately, in gathering key legislative
leaders together to begin work on an agreement. He and the others
should check their egos at the door. But he should do the “heavy
lifting” that good faith leadership requires. He should do
so with the goal in mind that many thousands of dollars of start-up
costs can be saved if the special session of the legislature can
be called within a week of the adjournment of the regular session.
And, if the governor believes that receiving no pay is appropriate
for those who haven’t done their jobs, he can set the example
by voluntarily contributing his pay to charity for the time of the
special session. He can challenge the legislators to do the same.
The governor and the legislature, all accepting responsibility
for their failure and all voluntarily sharing in the blame. Now
that would be an example of the best kind of politics. It might
create a climate for the best policies, too.
Bob Brown is a former Republican secretary of
State and president of the Montana Senate, and a senior fellows
at the University of Montana's O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain
West in Missoula, Mont., of which Headwaters News is a project.
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