Idle threats do not resolve budget crisis

If you want to stir up a real hornet's next in the state budgeting battle, just announce that there won't be enough money to keep a couple of state colleges open next year.

That's what state Rep. Chuck Graham did last week. He said Missouri Southern State College at Joplin and Missouri Western State College at St. Joseph might have to close in order to balance the state budget.

Graham's district includes Columbia, Mo., home of the four-campus University of Missouri system. Several months ago, when Gov. Bob Holden cut funding for state colleges and universities, the then-president of the University of Missouri said one of the campuses might have to be closed, but he didn't say which one: Rolla? St. Louis? Kansas City?

Since then, a new president has taken over at the University of Missouri, and he has quickly and firmly repudiated any notion that any of the four campuses will close.

Missouri Southern and Missouri Western each get more than $19 million from the state. Graham and the rest of Missouri's legislators are well aware that $19 million could be cut from any number of state programs that have questionable purposes and poorly measured accountability as far as results are concerned.

Making threats about college campuses is a great way to get headlines. It's a lousy way to run the state.