As I watched the Kentucky Derby on television last Saturday, I couldn’t help thinking about our legislature. Many of you probably had the same thought. And why not? The stakes were high, the mud and manure were flying, and nearly everybody with an investment was doomed to disappointment.
The similarities are too obvious to ignore as the legislature enters its stretch run. The finish line for budget bills is Friday, and we’ve already seen an outburst of last-furlong bumping and cries of foul. Undoubtedly, there will be surprises, most of them unpleasant.
Based on their form thus far, our elected representatives seem certain to create a lot of losers. We may require repeated reviews to determine who, if anybody, wins.
Back at the beginning of the legislative derby, Gov. Jay Nixon broke from the starting gate with a modest-enough agenda that included increasing insurance coverage for the needy, four-year scholarships for successful community college students, investments in job creation and a plan to protect both university budgets and tuition-paying parents.
The Republican leaders of both houses pledged constructive cooperation.
That was January. In February came a late entry, in the form of $4 billion or so in federal stimulus money. MoDOT jumped ahead of everybody in the nation with its shovel-ready bridge repair in Tuscumbia. The governor saw a way to save his university budget-and-tuition freeze plan. Republicans in the House saw an opportunity for another top-heavy tax cut.
By April, the legislative equivalent of a racetrack’s turn at the head of the stretch, most of Mr. Nixon’s plans had dropped out of sight, as had the governor himself. The legislative majority, however, was just hitting its stride – and falling over its own feet. The best illustration was the handling of that federal stimulus money.
Jeff City reporters chronicled the changes of mind and of fortune. The appropriation for a new Ellis Fischel Cancer Hospital bounced in and out of favor a half-dozen times. At one especially unnerving point, House Republicans decided to ignore their own budget committee and return to the default position of conservatives, a tax cut, with most of the saving accruing to those who need it least.
As I write, the tax cut has fallen off the pace, and Ellis Fischel is in the running again. The bad news for friends of higher education is that a filibuster in the Senate appears to have blocked the bond issue that would have allowed a half-billion dollars of campus construction. The bad news for the poor is that the Medicaid expansion also looks to be dead, despite the fact that it wouldn’t have cost any state money. Accusations of dirty dealing are flying like the mud on Derby day.
Even Republican senators are angry at their House colleagues.
We low-dollar bettors shouldn’t despair, though, I suppose. A 50-1 shot did win the Derby, after all. The budget finish line is 6 p.m. Friday. The governor may have been laying back, like Mine That Bird last weekend, waiting for his moment to make his move.
And to be fair, it isn’t as if the legislature has done nothing to advance the public welfare. The Associated Press reported Wednesday, and I quote, “Legislation designed to clear the way for farm tractor parades is moving to the governor.”
We may have only metaphorical horse races in Missouri, but at least we’ll have our tractor parades. Now where’d I put my John Deere cap?
George Kennedy is a former managing editor at the Missourian and professor emeritus at the Missouri School of Journalism.