| Has Governor Beshear Lost his MoJo? |
2008 News analysis -
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Frankfort, KY. March 12, 2008 In this state capitol, the halls of power are whispering that the newly elected governor has lost his MoJo. Governor Steve Beshear is now fighting to keep control of his new political powerbase while structuring a balanced budget for fiscal years 2009 and 2010. On both fronts, he is losing ground to the realities of modern state government. Lobbyists, interest groups, legislators, universities, county officials, churches, child advocates, and environmentalists are lining up against the massive budget cuts proposed by the new governor.
Beshear, in his budget speech, on January 29th, 2008, laid out just how bad the future looked for any new money being available to fund state government. In that budget, the Governor called for a 3 percent cut across the board for all programs in Fiscal Year 2008 state budget. This was to be followed by a 12 % worst case budget cut in Fiscal Year 2009. Governor Beshear had a plan to cover the missing future funding for the next two years. His Plan A was 12 casinos to be established across Kentucky that would generate $ 600 million.
Taking a page out of Governor John Y. Brown and Governor Wallace Wilkerson’s Manual of Working with the Legislators, Governor Beshear’s legislative team dropped the ball. Casino bill, as Plan A, is now all but dead in the water. And from all accounts with people close to the 1st and 3rd floors of the Capitol building, there is no Plan B. The future political foundation of Governor Steve Beshear’s administration hangs in the balance this week as geo-political forces rip apart his budget and rewrite a new one. Key aides working for Beshear put all their “political worth and power” in the casino basket. In the process of brokering influence for the backers of the casinos, these aides ignored the cries of anguish coming from all the special interests groups that make up modern Kentucky politics.
Many of the insiders of the Governor’s Office lost sight of the reality that Kentucky is made up of four states (Northern, Central, Eastern, and Western). Each one of these geo-political regions is framed by unique and distinct politics and economic realities. Many experts now believe that Beshear’s number one mistake was believing that only “the economy of Central Kentucky mattered in any vision for the state.”
As unrealistic as it may seem, sitting in the governor’s office in Frankfort, there is a world and whole regions of Kentucky more concerned about dying Main Streets, polluted rivers and lakes, losses of jobs, mountain top removal than they care about the World Equestrian Games of 2010 in Lexington. However, leadership within the Kentucky House of Representatives know very well where their political power comes from. It seems that the Democratic members of the House know all too well the problems of back home. They get the late night calls from teachers; the worried calls from parents about their inability to pay for college; small businesses who have to close because of the new taxes and health cost; and the working poor just trying to survive another week.
This budget, written in 2008 for Fiscal Years 2009 and 2010, is one of pain. The minute, the second, that a new budget is passed, the House leadership will have to start planning for emergency funding for next year. Kentucky, like the nation, is heading rapidly into a severe recession, the likes of which have not been seen within modern history. In great times of chaos and change, great men and women come forth to lead America out of harms way. That has always been our history.
Now history is being challenged because in the White House, America has a President that can no longer control economic events. The same is true for a state. Great times of change and unsettling economic chaos shape the future of any state. Good men and women, with courage and vision, can pull a state through hard times. The trick is called leadership. At this crossroads in modern Kentucky, many hope that Governor Beshear can field the right team, with bold action, to lead the state past these troubled waters of economic depression, into a better tomorrow. Beshear, the futurist, knows how. Can Beshear, the politician, find his MoJo in time to save the state? |
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