Who
will emerge as leaders
By
Asheville Citizen-Times
As N.C. faces a budget
crisis, "The challenges we confront right now, today, in
"In the past
- (
By Casey Hurley GUEST
ANALYST
Who are the people with the
"big ideas" that might lead us out of financial crisis? Both
Republicans and Democrats alike express concern over how the last two budgets
were balanced - by cutting programs, withholding money from retirement funds
and taking money from the highway trust fund.
On the other hand, Gov. Mike
Easley said recently that, "
The governor did not say how
"to change our budget model."
When the question, "Who
has ideas about how to get North Carolina out of the current budget
crisis?" was posed to our regional state legislators before the General
Assembly convened Wednesday, House members said it was too early to tell.
Their uncertainty presaged a
bitter fight over who will hold the powerful House speaker's position. Days
before the session began, Rep. Michael Decker, a conservative Forsyth County
Republican, switched parties with the result that the House is now split evenly
with 60 Republicans and 60 Democrats.
Even after the controversial
Republican nominee for the job, Rep. Leo Daughtry,
R-Johnston, withdrew, making way for a nominee more acceptable to many
Republicans, Rep. George Holmes, R-Forsyth, neither Holmes nor the Democratic
nominee, Rep. Jim Black, R-Mecklenburg, could get the necessary 61 votes to be
elected on opening day. After five votes the House recessed.
When it reconvened Thursday
morning, one additional vote was taken, with the same result as the five taken
on Wednesday: All 60 Democrats voted for Black, and Republicans split with 55
votes for Holmes and 5 votes for Richard Morgan, R-Moore. The House adjourned
Thursday to discuss options for power sharing over the weekend. Among those
voting for Morgan was Rep. Wilma Sherrill, R-Buncombe.
"I made a commitment to
Richard Morgan because I believe in my heart that he is the best man to lead
this House," Sherrill told a Citizen-Times reporter Wednesday.
"The speaker has all the
authority," Sherrill said before the session began. "He appoints
committees. He names the leadership team to deal with the crisis, and he sets
the tone. Each candidate for speaker would pull together a different set of
people."
Democrat Sen. Marc Basnight of Manteo was re-elected president pro tempore of
the Senate. Basnight has legislative seniority, and a
28-22 Democratic senate majority.
"Marc Basnight
has the power to get what he wants," freshman Sen. Tom Apodaca,
R-Henderson, said before the session began.
Veteran legislators said the
leaders of the House and Senate wield enormous power over the legislative
process, and over those who will assume leadership positions.
Paul O'Connor, who writes a
column on state government, described the power legislative leaders have over
their colleagues this way: "As these legislators decide for whom they will
vote in the speaker's race, they are undoubtedly weighing how their votes will
affect their own careers. ... A speaker will reward his or her supporters with
good committee and office assignments."
Do those elected to these
powerful positions have ideas for getting us out of the budget crisis?
Rep. Sherrill was disappointed
when, "At our caucus, one of the candidates for House speaker was asked,
`What is your vision? What will you do about the budget crisis?' He had no
ideas about what to do. He had no plan. He had no vision."
The structure and rules of the
In interviews before the
session began, regional lawmakers didn't speak about changing this structure or
these rules.
Instead, they hoped
legislative procedures would lead to reasonable compromises.
"With our current budget
crisis, we have an opportunity to make some big changes," said Rep. Trudi Walend, R-Brevard.
"These will be extensively debated with amendments that will lead to
compromise. The moderates, conservatives and liberals will debate, which means
it usually comes to the middle."
"Some Democrats and some
Republicans need to get together to say, `We are of like minds. Let's get
together and do something about this situation,'" Sherrill said. Almost
one-third of the General Assembly (52) will be freshmen this spring. Several
legislators see this as an opportunity for new ideas. Sen. Joe Sam Queen,
D-Haywood, is optimistic because he heard good questions from his colleagues
when they were briefed on government operations by the NC Institute of
Government. He also hopes the legislature can address the crisis in a
bipartisan manner. So, with a large contingent of new legislators and with a
budget crisis looming, are we likely to see any big changes in the budget
model? The N.C. Progress Board's
"Combine
departments," he said. "This is like bank mergers. You get an economy
of scale. We could probably cut a third of the people. The Department of Public
Instruction needs to be streamlined, too, so the money gets to the counties and
the classrooms. "
In this case, Democrats agree.
Gov. Easley has already moved to reorganize the Department of Transportation.
And several of the ideas that emerged from the Efficiency Commission he
established shortly after taking office involve consolidating departments and
updating the state computer system so efforts can be coordinated across
departments.
Gov. Easley has also created
two commissions to study what can be done to improve the state's economic
future. The first is The Commission to Promote Government Efficiency and
Savings on State Spending. The second is the Commission to Modernize State
Finances.
The recommendations of these
panels didn't appear to be on the minds of regional lawmakers before the
session began.
But it's clear from reading
those recommendations that the Progress Board is right - the problems facing
The Progress Board suggests:
"To assure a solid competitive position with other states for quality
economic growth,
So, who are the people who
will lead us out of our budget crisis? Veteran legislators are waiting for
leadership from those they elected or will elect to head their legislative
bodies. No thought is given to whether or not placing so much power in the
hands of a few is part of the solution or part of the problem.
Freshman legislators are
optimistic, some might say naive. They are hopeful that the General Assembly
can work in a bipartisan fashion, and some may have new ideas that will improve
state government efficiency and effectiveness.
It may also be naive to expect
to discover some "big ideas" for developing a better budget model.
But perhaps we should not be disappointed. Our political institutions are
structured for stability. Their systems of checks and balances cause them to
resist big changes.
Perhaps we should not expect
revolutionary ideas to emerge in government. The structure is against it.
Although we may complain about the inability of government to adapt in
difficult times, there's much to be said for having a government designed for
stability. Furthermore, in a two- party system, in which deviating from the
party line is political suicide, our elections select followers, not leaders.
It has been enlightening to be reminded of this, once again.
Casey Hurley is a professor
of educational administration at