Last week was another step forward in putting Ohio’s budget back on a path of sustainability. The Ohio House, with minor changes, passed Governor Kasich’s proposed budget. They solved the problem of the $8 billion shortfall, and they did it without raising taxes.
Of course, the Democrats are crying foul and denouncing the budget with all of the usual class warfare canards, as usual.
Hey, remember when I said this?
Democrats had their chance to fix the budget. They controlled the Governor’s office and the Ohio House. They could have done this their way.
They. CHOSE. Not to. They put a band-aid on the situation instead.
And NOW they want to kick and scream and complain about how its being done, when they refused to lead?
Unbelievable.
This past weekend, the Columbus Dispatch pretty much said the same thing.
Former House speaker and now House Minority Leader Armond Budish criticizes the painful cuts included in Kasich’s budget proposal.
But those cuts are necessary precisely because Budish and former Gov. Ted Strickland didn’t do their job – truly balancing the state’s budget – when they controlled the governor’s office and the House two years ago.
Faced with a vast gulf between revenue and what they wanted to spend, Budish and Strickland should have been the ones making budget cuts in the 2010-11 budget.
…
Budish disagrees with Kasich’s priorities, he says. When he was speaker of the House, Budish had every opportunity – the duty, in fact – to set the priorities he now claims to stand for.
Had he led a charge to reset government spending to align with the resources available, he could have influenced the future more to his liking. He didn’t.
Of course there are cuts. Cuts were mandatory. The law says Ohio can only spend what it will collect (thank goodness). Nobody likes to make cuts in services. But it was time to be grownups, show leadership and get the job done right.
Weeks ago, when Kasich unveiled his budget proposal, I also said this.
This is the kind of leadership we needed on the budget 2 years ago. Thankfully, we have someone now who isn’t afraid to talk to us like adults and make the hard choices.
The CD agrees with me on that one, too.
Dealing with hard problems instead of kicking them down the road is leadership.
Normally, I’d say that I couldn’t have said it better myself. But this time, I actually already did. Ha! Seriously, though, go read the entire column.
Congratulations to Governor Kasich and the Ohio House. On to the Senate!
