State lawmakers are taking their first thorough look this morning at the governor’s proposed $18.8 billion General Fund budget plan.
It’s a long process, but occasional bits of jocularity seep through the seriousness.
Gov. Mike Easley’s budget adviser — Dan Gerlach — and Sen. Richard Stevens, R-Wake, engaged in the following exchange as Gerlach was trying to find Stevens within the crowd of lawmakers, lobbyists, and legislative staff:
Stevens: Over here, Dan, to your left. To your left. This left.
Gerlach: Oh, OK. I was looking too far left.
Stevens: Sometimes you do that.
(Laughter)
Gerlach: Not any more, senator.
Later, Sen. Fred Smith, R-Johnston, drew a response from fellow Sen. Linda Garrou, D-Forsyth, when he tried to poke fun at the governor’s proposed spending cap. (Easley says he does not consider certain expenditures and trust fund reimbursements as subject to the spending cap.)
Smith: I gave my wife a spending cap, and she came back and said, ‘Honey, that’s fine, but it doesn’t apply to clothes, and jewelry …’
Garrou: Excuse me, you gave your wife a spending cap?
Smith: Yes, I did.
Garrou: Um, lucky girl. Lucky, lucky girl.
The Senate will draft its own budget plan, once lawmakers have finished reviewing the governor’s proposals.
