The Governor Responds to the Kowalko/Geek Plan (sort of)
We got this email from Joe Rogalsky on Friday in response to our letter to them:
My apologies for the delayed response, things have been a little hectic down here today.
You’re right, the Governor always welcomes suggestions about ways Delaware can meet the historic challenges facing us. There are many parts of his proposal the Governor did not want to have to propose, including the temporary pay reduction for state employees. The pay reduction made the Governor sick to his stomach. He is particularly interested in ways to reduce the cut and ensure that it is temporary. That’s why he is working so hard to pass his sports lottery legislation.
The Governor and his team are reviewing Rep. Kowalko’s proposed alternatives. Delaware will not be able to tax its way out of the historic challenges facing the state, so any proposal will have to include significant spending reductions. The Governor has also been clear that the budget proposal will have to be sustainable and position Delaware for future growth. It’s critical that the state not increase taxes too much to overburden families or businesses struggling during this significant economic downturn.
As the budget process moves forward, the Governor and his team will be working with Rep. Kowalko, members of the Joint Finance Committee, legislative leadership and all other General Assembly members to make the tough choices needed to solve the historic budget shortfall.
Joe
While we appreciate the response from the Governors office, and we recognize that things are pretty hectic in Dover, this feels like a blow-off to me. What do you think?
Tags: Delaware Budget, Jack Markell
LG, I agree
How can 8% salary cuts/taxes on a small number of people be sustainable?
What happens next year and 2011 (Governor’s speech), if the downturn continues?
Are the cuts sustainable revenue?
blah blah blah….
No mention either of the modest fee increases John proposed. These hardly constitute taxing our way out of it. They would not likely cause large corporations to flee the State.
Bloggers are always the aids infected monkey in the room after elections.
Jason, that seems kind of harsh. I don’t think bloggers are the ‘moral majority’ of the left. You know, just to be used to win elections and then ignored. Markell has been pretty responsive to DL bloggers in particular. I wouldn’t panic over a staffer issuing a blow-off response just yet. That being said, the response is a blow off.
You’re right. I’m not as angry as that sounds. I’m where you are in fact. Markell has been pretty good – but yeah, it was a blow off.
I think that if the Governor wants a 2nd term, he will blow off you guys. This is proposal is insanity on steroids and the Governor is smart enough to know it.
http://www.delawarepolitics.net/taxpayer-public-enemy-number-1/ Would the Governor want his name in a headline as Taxpayer Public Enemy Number 1 like your radical Representative?
I’m sure Kowalko is shaking in his boots right now because Delaware Politics doesn’t like him.
Indeed.
Especially from a group of people who couldn’t make budget numbers make sense if their lives depended upon it.
No one listens to David “Reverse Barometer” Anderson except to see what not to do.
Yes, David though “empathize on my behind” by Michael Steele was “pitch perfect.”
Looking at increasing some of the fees corporations pay to incorporate in Delaware (which John Kowalko has suggested) would be one way to reduce whatever potential cuts there will be.
The fee increases Kowalko is suggesting do not appear to be so large they would discourage companies from incorporating here and multimillion (or multibillion) dollar corporations can absorb the sacrifice more than state workers,some of whom are making in the low $20,000 range.
El Somnambulo has a different take on this. The General Assembly was in session until after midnight on Thursday as all the Governor’s key people were trying to rescue the sports betting bill. This was the first real legislative crisis that the administration has faced.
He doesn’t see Rogalsky’s response as a blowoff at all. He thinks it was a way of acknowledging that they had received DL’s proposals at a time when due to circumstances, there was no chance that they could provide a detailed response in a timely way. Especially since anyone with sufficient detail to respond was involved in legislative crisis management.
As El Somnambulo’s favorite Broadway composer, Stephen Sondheim, once said, “Context is everything.”
How about a response like this:
Got your letter, but we have been really busy. Kowalko’s ideas are interesting and we would love to find effective ways to reduce or eliminate the pay cut for state employees. We will have time to get you a more thorough response soon.
Uh, you’re really not that important. But keep pretending.
I love living in my own little fantasy world. It’s nice here.
That sort of response doesn’t need to go to us, it need to go to Kowalko.
You did say it was “our” letter. No?