As noted previously, an effort for the Legislature to call itself into
special session to pursue an agenda
injurious to efficient policy implementation would turn the body into
little more than the equivalent of the Transportation
Security Administration for Louisiana on budget implementation, with the
chambers frisking executive decisions to find any evidence of policies that
could right-size state government and/or impede their abilities to feed statewide
or constituency-based special interests at taxpayer expense that assist in
their reelections, and then to try to eliminate any offensive implementation
decisions that threaten their reelections and/or trouble their faiths in big
government. The first of four steps, getting a chamber, the House, to sign a
petition to put the matter to a vote, has been achieved.
The author of the effort, state Rep. Dee Richard,
enthusiastically waxes that should it come to pass the session could be used to
reverse recent cost-cutting reformations made to state government. Of course,
nothing of the sort will happen, and not just because the math does not add up
to produce enough votes to override a veto of any of the reforms by their executor
Gov. Bobby Jindal, but also because by the time the session concludes, a large share
of the implementation will have become an accomplished fate.
Richard cites as one thing to undo the closing of the psychiatric care Southeast
Louisiana Hospital. But by December it will not serve in that capacity; it
might even be operating
at least in parts under private management. He also brings up the
shuttering of the Paul Phelps Correctional Center. But in a matter of days it
will be empty of prisoners. And of plans to downsize dramatically many charity
hospitals in the state? The Department of Health and Hospitals already is putting
deals in place to accomplish that which would be difficult to unwind.
So if the session is seen as a way to prevent these things from
happening, as opposed to a more theoretical exercise in giving the Legislature more
ways to insert itself into the minutiae of policy implementation in the future,
any agenda to do so will fail and look incredibly stupid because of the enormous
expenses in time and dollars to backtrack. Add that to what the public will see
as a waste of needed bucks on the session itself, an attempt to accomplish an
entirely impractical goal, and the body’s esteem sinks even further in the peoples’
eyes.
Not that the Democrats who signed onto it care about these kinds of
consequences. Reviewing
the list of names, a large portion of it comprises the usual leftist cranks
(here’s
a sample of the typical pabulum you get from this bunch) and a few who don’t
want to see the changes because they fear special interests allied with the
downsized/redacted facilities will work against their reelection, or both. They
don’t care because they have no chance at governing as long as they insist on
promoting liberalism, so they have no power to lose, meaning they eagerly want
to throw a tantrum at taxpayer expense.
But the few Republicans who signed up, all of whom have an affected
institution in their areas, surely have not become addled enough by visions of
grandeur and/or parochialism to not know the folly they support. They have real
power both personal and related to the institution that they will lose if a
session gets called. Their motivation lies deeper.
As with some of the Democrats, for them it’s all about image, and in
every case but one, reelection. Signing on allows these individuals to go to
the special interests in their districts annoyed by the moves and argue they
tried to do something about it. And if they’re smart, they’re working behind
the scenes quietly lobbying senators not to sign the petition so they can have
their cake and eat it, too. Neither the public nor Jindal will be happy at them
for wasting resources with a session, so they will be big losers if it comes
about. But if all their assent does is produce symbolism at no cost, they
emerge as winners. (And for the one term-limited GOP signatory state Rep. Brett Geymann,
it’s all about burnishing credentials and
trying to be taken seriously as a budget reformer, something he has yet to
achieve.)
While Richard may crow about how a session could establish “independence”
of the Legislature, understand any session product will bring harmful policy
impacts and actually will attenuate legislative independence. As Edmund Burke
cautions us, we must judge any use of power by its effects, not on the intent.
Having greater liberty to insert itself into the policy implementation process is
not good when it serves to produce worse policy, precisely because by its very
nature the alterations proposed in the agenda will create conditions to allow parochial
interests to triumph over statewide needs. The Legislature also has plenty of
other existing mechanisms by which to shape executive behavior, such as through
budgeting and its ability to override any gubernatorial action regarding that,
without having to degrade implementation. Just because it has no guts in making
policy doesn’t give it the license to impact adversely implementation of
policy.
2 comments:
I see that the Governor's wonder boy Superintendent of Education has been accused of lying to a Senate Committee confirmation hearing.
The accuser is a former district attorney, trial court judge, court of appeal judge, and now a state senator.
That's a lot of gravitas.
What say YOU????
"throw a tantrum at taxpayer expense." Isn't that a description of the eight years of Bush rule? The professional tantrum-throwers are almost exclusively right-wing. How often do you hear Jim Lehrer blubbering about the apocalypse? Correct, he never does. But turn on any rightwing blowhard and they are hysterically freaking out about the same garbage conspiracy theorists that morons like Jeff buy into. But the second some politician wants an extra session, Jeff himself throws the tantrum and starts the name-calling. There was a time when people holding Jeff's views weren't even allowed in polite company (except in the south, of course), but now these right-wing extremists shout their conspiracy from rooftops like it's the gospel.
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