We worship at the altar of speed. It's instant this and instant
that, but sometimes in the legislative process "speed" should take a
back seat.
The Snyder administration is in a full court press to get its
first budget adopted by the end of May. Lawmakers actually have until
October first to get the job done, but nobody thinks that will happen
this time out.
"We're going to work overtime in April and May to get this done,"
advises Speedy Gonzales a.k.a. Randy Richardville the senate GOP leader.
Not so fast.
The last time lawmakers rushed to get something done, passing a
sales tax on services, they ended-up un-doing what they did because
they got it wrong.
There were omelets all over the join from Gov. Granholm on down.
Now comes business guy Rick Snyder who grew up in a climate
where you wanted everything yesterday and waiting for tomorrow cost you
money on the bottom line.
Legislating is not a business.
If the framers of the constitution had wanted speed, they would
have installed a benevolent dictator instead of a representative
Democracy which demands deliberation affording everyone a chance to
speak.
A conservative GOP lawmaker confided the other day that he wanted
to take more time on writing a new business tax. He remembers the
sales tax debacle.
Other Republicans are pushing back on jamming through the new
budget, too. Hey, these guys get paid to review what the governor has
proposed and doing it in a flash is a disservice not only to the
legislative process, but more importantly to the citizens as well.
We pay legislators not to rubber stamp what they governor wants
no matter how much he cajoles them to do it.
Yeah, the schools need to know by June 1st what their budgets
will be, but even they would rather see lawmakers get it right than
just get it done.
Instant messaging may be fine on your Crackberry but in the
legislative game there are no points off for taking your good ole time.