GOP offers alternatives and compromise

Missourians have been waiting to see how the state legislature, controlled by Republicans for the first time in more than half a century, would address a shortfall currently estimated at $350 million in the state budget for the fiscal year that ends June 30.

The GOP leadership in Jefferson City appears to have learned some good lessons from the experience of its party's takeover of the U.S. House nearly a decade ago. Although the Contract With America charge led by then-House speaker Newt Gingrich had the right goals, it was an education in how to sway not only elected officials, but public sentiment as well. One important lesson was that political bullying is not the best public-relations tactic.

The current legislative leadership in Missouri has made a studious and deliberate effort to find ways to resolve some of the prickly budget problems facing the state without undermining the state's financial future.

On Tuesday, the wait ended as the leadership of both the House and Senate -- plus both chambers' budget chairmen -- outlined a plan that would use some of Missouri's tobacco settlement and would preserve funding for public schools and higher education.

The Republican proposal is remarkable for several reasons.

First, the plan demonstrates there are some reasonable alternatives to Gov. Bob Holden's do-it-my-way-or-else plan. Holden has been twisting arms -- and asking special-interest groups to do the same -- all over the state as he has sought support for selling $375 million of bonds to be repaid with anticipated revenue from the state's settlement with Big Tobacco. He wants to use $350 million to offset this budget year's shortfall. Along the way, he has threatened to cut funding for public schools -- a sacred cow so far in his administration -- and further reduce funding for higher education.

When House Speaker Catherine Hanaway and Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder met with the governor Tuesday, they suggested using only $100 million from the tobacco settlement along with $250 million in cuts and delayed spending to get through the rest of this fiscal year.

Second, the Republican leaders took their plan to the governor first. In a private meeting, they presented their ideas and sought a dialogue with Holden. This is in stark contrast to the governor's tactic of appealing to the public and special interests for support of his plan while rebuffing every effort made by legislative leaders to confer and compromise.

Given the seriousness of Missouri's gap between spending habits developed during a decade of economic boom and the reality of flattening revenue projections, it's hard to say that the Republican plan offered this week is the best plan possible. However, it clearly demonstrates that there are alternatives to Holden's all-or-nothing approach. Moreover, the plan offered by Hanaway and Kinder must face the test of legislative deliberations.

But Missourians now have a taste of how the Republicans intend to run the legislature. Any options that rely on good communication between legislative leaders and the governor's office will be better than the politics-first haggling we've grown so accustomed to -- and weary of.