Still trying to shift the budget narrative, Democratic Sens. Dick Saslaw and Don McEachin have issued a letter in response to Gov. McDonnell saying the budget scrape they have put the state in is really (truly, it is) over matters of principle:
Governor, we submit the Senate Democrats are speaking loudly about how to come to agreement on the new biennial budget. We must fund the core responsibilities of government in a fair and just manner. The electorate voted a split in the Senate in hopes for centrism – not radical imbalance. As leaders, we take our stand for fiscal responsibility and for meeting the needs of Virginians very seriously. We are eager to work with you to craft a budget that works for all in our Commonwealth, rather than simply scoring partisan political points.
We’ll put aside the idea that Virginians voted “in hopes of centrism” during the last election out of deference to the Democratic Senate’s last gasp gerrymandering. That was their capstone achievement as a majority and it served its purpose (just barely).
But we can’t put aside the notion that the Democratic snit is about anything except power. Recall Sen. Saslaw’s remarks that he would have ended “all this [B.S.] if they’d just give us parity on Ed and Health.”
And as for the slightly new spin that Democrats, all along, have voiced objections to the budget and its supposed assault on core services, Sen. Walter Stosch, the Finance committee chairman, sent a note to constituents dashing that, too:
Without a budget bill, it will be impossible to reach an agreement. Making the situation much more daunting, Senate Democrats objections are not about spending priorities. Instead, they want to reorganize the Senate, despite it having been organized on January 11. Their complaints are about the politics of the Senate, not the policies and priorities in the budget.
By derailing the budget process, Senate Democrats are effectively holding every core service the Commonwealth provides its citizens hostage. It is a perplexing and frustrating situation, because the Senate budget plan was a collaborative effort by all Senators. As a result, the Senate budget proposal had more funding for K-12 public education, health care, social services, and local governments than the plan originally introduced by Governor McDonnell or the one approved by the House of Delegates.
Senators Saslaw and McEachin can complain that the budgets they’ve rejected don’t spend or tax enough. But as Stosch reminds us, they were in on the budget from the beginning.
This is about control, not priorities.
