The ongoing state budget stalemate is going to continue to be ongoing until Democrats on one side and Republicans on the other come to the realization that somebody needs to be the grownup.
And yes, it’s both sides that need to come to that realization. The nonsense that you hear from Richmond from Democrats blaming Republicans and Republicans blaming Democrats is nothing more than a sign that we’re still in the political-posturing phase of this budget battle.
Memo to the pols: This isn’t about who has more points on the partisan scoreboard at the end of the day. What this is about is local governments being able to finish their own budgets for the coming fiscal year.
Basic respect dictates that you do it now so that the ladies and gents back home can finish their city and county budgets and school budgets.
We all know what this is going to come down to. It’s not going to be a Republican budget or a Democratic budget. It’s going to be a bipartisan budget. That much was guaranteed back in November when the voters split representation in the State Senate at 20-20.
Republicans can keep trying until the cows come home to pass a GOP budget, but with Democrats in the Senate voting as a bloc, the cows are going to leave and have to be coaxed back home again before they’re going to have any hopes for success with that strategy.
Democrats, meanwhile, have to understand that having a 20-20 split in one house and a 2-1 split running against them in the other with all three statewide officeholders also being Republicans doesn’t make for a good backdrop for ramming through everything that they want and more.
Give a little to get a little. That’s what politics is all about. Should be easy to figure out. Don’t know why the supposedly smart people we send to Richmond and D.C. can’t seem to join us there in that perimeter of wisdom.
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