The Moderate Republican

Grover Is So Over

There's an good piece in the Washington Monthly about how Republican governors are spurning the advice of anti-tax guru, Grover Norquist. Norquist is known for his statement of wanting government to be small enough to, in his words, "I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.”

Well, governors are finding out that his anarchist utopia doesn't match up with real-world issues like education and road maintainance. Mitch Daniels, the former budget czar in Bush 43's first administration is now the governor of Indiana. Daniels upset Norquist, by closing a budget deficit of $600 million by raising taxes on the the richest Hoosiers.

Other GOP governors are following suit after a decade of ignoring fiscal reality. In Colorado, a Taxpayer's Bill of Rights was introduced back in the 90s. It turned out to be a disaster. Here is the money quote:

"In 1992, at the instigation of Douglas Bruce, now a county commissioner in Colorado Springs, Colorado voters passed a referendum known as the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, or TABOR which attached an amendment to the state constitution that required any tax increase to be approved by a vote of the people and limits state spending increases to inflation, with adjustments made for population growth. Any amount that the state collects above its spending limit has to be returned as a tax refund, unless the public specifically votes to allow the state to keep the money. So far, no Colorado official has even tried to bring the question to a vote. “It sounds good, so it's hard to fight politically,” says Brad Young, the former Republican chairman of Colorado's joint budget committee.

TABOR has completely warped Colorado politics ever since. One of the original supporters was a little-known state representative from Aurora named Bill Owens. Six years later, Owens was elected to be Colorado's first Republican governor in 24 years. It wasn't long before national Republicans began to notice. National Review named him “America's Best Governor” in 2002 and admiringly listed his government-cutting bona fides. Anti-tax advocates began touting TABOR as a national model and Owens as a potential presidential candidate for 2008.

But while Colorado has been terrific for TABOR, TABOR has been a nightmare for Colorado, and for Colorado Republicans in particular. The state budget was fine as long as the state's economy was growing, and bills could be pushed into the following year. Once things slowed down, retrenchment became a serious business just as health care and education expenses began to shoot upwards. Thanks to TABOR, the state can't increase its spending on roads and other expenditures it's been putting off. Now, Gov. Owens himself has proposed a ballot measure to curtail some of the law's limits.

Business is the chisel driving a crack between moderate Republicans and the anti-tax fanatics. Although there is no group in Washington more loyal to the GOP's anti-tax doctrine than the Chamber of Commerce, in the states, reality often trumps ideology. “For businesses to be successful, you need roads and you need higher education, both of which have gotten worse under TABOR and will continue to get worse,” says Tom Clark of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, who notes that higher education has shrunk from 25 percent of the state budget in 1995 to about 10 percent today. “I'm a Republican,” Clark says, “but I made the decision not to give any money to the state party.”

Throughout the state, moderate businessmen such as Clark kept their political checkbooks closed to many Republicans last year. Several statehouse incumbents who might otherwise have counted on huge campaign spending advantages over Democratic challengers instead faced something approaching parity. A tightly organized state Democratic Party was able to take advantage, knocking off enough Republican incumbents to gain control of the Colorado legislature for the first time in 40 years. Democratic leaders in the state legislature are now reaching out to moderate Republicans to make changes to TABOR. As for Owens, he's term-limited and preparing to begin his last two years as governor. With a reinvigorated Democratic majority in the statehouse and a conservative base disappointed with his concessions to budget realities, he's quacking lamely. TABOR is at no risk of being jettisoned altogether, but its reputation as the third rail of Colorado politics has taken a permanent hit, as have Owens's hopes for competing in the GOP presidential primary 2008. "

No Republican likes taxes. None. But sometimes you have to raise them in order to pay for services people use. Republicans should be about keeping taxes reasonable, not about eliminating taxes. Roads have to be kept up. Schools have to be properly funded. These are things states have to do. Of course some savings can be made in harsh times by cutting some budgets. But any fiscal hawk worth his salt knows that to balance a budget you need to do two things: cut programs and raise revenue. There is no way around that.

Here in Minnesota, our Republican governor, Tim Pawlenty is still under Grover's spell. Despite budget deficits, he still maintains that taxes don't need to be raised. Programs have been cut, but there is still a deficit. He has basically used accounting schemes to push the deficits into the future, but the problem is still there.

The governor however seems to think we need revenue. So, instead of raising the revenue through a tax increase, he has decided to strike a deal with three economincally disadvantaged Indian tribes to open a casino in the metro area. Estimates are that a casino could bring in $200 million into state coffers.

But is this what we want? I don't like tax increases, but I also don't like relying on dirty money to provide for services. This would put a burden on the poor and middle class who tend to go to casinos.

This is not enlightened governing and it's not what Republicans who should believe in fiscal responsiblity should be engaging in.

It would be nice if our governor got a clue. Scary thing is, he is being considered as a presidential candidate in 2008.

Posted by Dennis at March 7, 2005 09:46 AM