Stateline features an article entitled, “Governors pitch ambitious programs.” The word “ambitious” is much too polite.
Take the lede, for example:
Billion-dollar deficits in California, New York, Arizona and other states haven?t stopped governors from proposing big-ticket items for 2008.
The next few sentences describe the governors’ “ambition,” also known as negligence.
As the new legislative year gets under way, consider:
* Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to push ahead with sweeping health-care reform despite a projected $14 billion deficit.
* New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) aims to expand health care, cut property taxes and create a $1 billion fund to create jobs in upstate New York, but will have to do so while patching a $4 billion budget hole.
* Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano (D) wants to give free tuition to every Arizona child who graduates from high school with a B average while plugging a $1.5 billion deficit.
North Carolina is not mentioned in the article, but I have little doubt that, like Arnold, Eliot, and Janet, our governor is ready to spend now and ask questions later (or not at all).
