Critics singing same old tune

Some public officials and citizens never tire of saying Louisiana state government has a spending problem. Republican state Treasurer John Schroder was in Lake Charles recently and repeated it again.

“We spend every dime we have and every dime we think we’re going to have. We cannot survive; it’s impossible,” Schroder told members of the Ports Association of Louisiana.

Schroder said during his election campaign he was going to mimic similar comments by his predecessor, U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., and he hasn’t disappointed. Kennedy, after a number of failed attempts to win a Senate seat, parlayed his “spending problem” comments into an eventual victory.

Most conservatives have used the spending problem complaint more times than we can count. However, ask them where they would cut the budget and they come up empty.

Robert Mann, who holds the Manship Chair in Journalism at LSU and writes a column for The Times-Picayune, talked in a recent column about “the mysterious case of the missing budget cuts.”

Mann quoted three conservative Republicans in the state House who said government should be as lean as possible, government spending has to be controlled and waste and government spending need to be reduced.

Few can argue with those goals, but where should the cuts take place?

“The most-charitable view is they haven’t bothered to look,” Mann said of the critics. “Less-charitable is that the cuts aren’t there, and they know it. The least-charitable view — and the one that seems obvious — is that this is all about ensuring (Democratic Gov. John Bel) Edwards’ defeat next year.

Schroder, who is a former state representative, said if he were governor he would ask to “undedicate every dollar in state government.” Saying that, Schroder is admitting that most of the state budget includes dedicated funds that can’t be touched. Some legislators have been trying to do away with dedications for years with little success.

Critics also keep talking about the $29 billion state budget, but they rarely mention that legislators only have discretion over some $3.4 billion of that money. Most of it is federal money that has strings attached, and the rest is either protected by the constitution or state law.

A majority of voters approved all of the constitutional amendments dedicating money. They want too much in the constitution because they don’t trust their legislators, and after the recent failed special session it is easy to understand why.

When you try to cut nearly $1 billion in the state budget out of $3.4 billion, higher education and health care bear the brunt of the reductions because they don’t have any legal protection. That is why former Gov. Bobby Jindal’s no-tax pledge decimated both areas that still haven’t fully recovered.

Many studies have been done on how to streamline Louisiana state government by reforming its tax and budget systems. Other states have successfully reformed their state governments by following the same guidelines.

Republican leaders in the House said they were going to use those studies to make recommended reforms during the 2017 regular session, but they weren’t interested when the time came.

Schroder admitted that as well when he said he would reluctantly support a constitutional convention because the state doesn’t “have the political wherewithal to fix it on our own. We’ve tried it the other way, and it hasn’t worked,” he said.

The “our” and “we” he is talking about are his Republican colleagues who control the state House and Senate. The regular session that begins Monday will give them another opportunity to see how they would reduce state spending.

Lawmakers will also have plenty of opportunities at their session beginning Monday to decide whether they want to convene a constitutional convention. A number of convention bills have been filed.

Supporters shouldn’t get their hopes up. There is so much mistrust among members in the current Legislature, selling the idea of a convention will be tough. That is why the recently ended special session went nowhere.

Stephanie Grace, a columnist for The Advocate, explained why the complaints of state government critics often ring hollow. Grace said it is typical of people like Sen. Kennedy “to offer a quip or two rather than propose constructive solutions.” She said the senator’s “job in Washington absolves him of the hard work of balancing state revenue against the cost of providing the level of government that people want.”

Everybody wants less government until someone considers eliminating a program he or she likes. It’s been tried time and time again. We also can’t ignore the fact that poverty in this state takes a heavy and costly toll.

Nothing will change until the less fortunate have better health care and an opportunity for a quality education. Both are expensive, but extremely beneficial in improving people’s lives.

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Jim Beam, the retired editor of the American Press, has covered people and politics for more than five decades. Contact him at 337-515-8871 or jbeam@americanpress.com.