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Time for the Guv to morph into Chris Christie (6/28/2011)

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• The Governor (via HIS veto pen – and without the aid of the legislature that the P/C tries to blame) used $427M in user fees lifted from the transportation fund to “balance” his last budget.
• Wisconsin continues with a bond rating better than only two to four (depending on the bond-rating agency) other states.
• Wisconsin has a projected ending fund balance of 0.1% of total spending – that compares to 7.9% nationally. Worse than every other reporting state (47) Gee, is that what “pretty good” is?
• Oh, and that deficit number. It was $2.1 billion, year-ending 2004-05. That’s the state’s real deficit, using honest, professional, really believable GAAP accounting from the state controller. I guess that’s supposed to be “pretty good” too.

Gannett, via the Post-Crescent, even joins in the finger pointing, which they claim to disdain. Green is blasted for blaming Doyle for Wisconsin’s problems, but Gannett can blame Green for its claim of “Congress’ irresponsible budgeting.” Disingenuous, to say the least.

Doyle sees the need for more state spending. Green sees the need to limit spending and increase accountability.

Four years ago, Gannett editorialized that Doyle was strictly a “middleweight” when it comes to handling the heavyweight state budget deficit. They criticized then-governor McCallum for balancing the budget with a one-time lump sum, without “the necessary long-term solutions.” They said Doyle was “light on dollar figures” and “the weakness of Doyle’s platform is spending, most prominently in his plan to revise how K-12 education is funded.”

Well, so far, he’s funded K-12 with one-time monies, provided no long-term solutions and reduced the GAAP deficit from $2.2B to $2.1B. Wow. Pretty good?

Nope, not in my book. Unlike other states which have pulled out of their early 21st century budget morasses, Wisconsin continues to be in deep budget trouble.

Here’s the bottom line. This is critical stuff. Read each candidate’s fiscal beliefs. (Green / Doyle) Look for their long-term plans. (Discount any claims of any past balanced budget. It’s a FoxPolitics pet peeve - and simply has not happened. In fairness, the state hasn’t balanced its budget since it began using GAAP accounting in 1990.)

Wisconsin needs a leader who will set priorities and keep spending in line with the taxpayers’ ability to pay. Base your vote on the candidate’s policies you believe will best do exactly that.

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