THERE IS PLENTY OF CULPABILITY TO GO AROUND

Gov. John Ashcroft has recently been the target of bitter attacks following an announcement in Jefferson City that current state spending would again be reduced before June 30. This cut in state spending marks the third reduction since FY 1991 got under way last July 1. The initial fiscal surgery occurred just as the year was beginning, with the second coming in November, when revenue and budget officials began noticing the revenue shortfalls that were occurring as a result of the recession. This third cut, required once again by the continuing economic downturn, was triggered by a predicted revenue shortfall of $96.6 million between now and June 30.

While last November's spending reductions called for budget cuts of as much as 10 percent from most agencies, with exemptions allowed for public education, this latest round will produce cuts of another 2 percent in agency spending, with exemptions for local schools and colleges and universities. These reductions, coupled with a cut of $5.6 million in capital improvements, will take "only" $21.9 million from agency spending for the next four months. Coming on top of earlier withholdings, this latest move will nevertheless require cancellation of some essential services and staff layoffs in several agencies, including social services and mental health.

This round of belt-tightening in state government, not dissimilar to the same ritual now occurring in most of the 50 states, produced reams of press releases and editorials castigating Gov. Ashcroft for his failure to fully fund essential state services such as welfare assistance, health care, mental health and other social programs that have a high level of visibility in this less-than-affluent era.

We have no motivation in defending the governor, and there are times we do just the opposite, but we believe his critics in this case are off the mark. Neither John Ashcroft nor any member of last year's 85th General Assembly had any insight into how seriously a national recession would affect tax collections in Missouri. While some recessionary indices were evident, the full extent of the present economic downturn was not in sight. Indeed, the effects would have been much worse had it not been for the alertness of at least two members of the executive department: Budget Director Tony Moulton and Revenue Director Duane Benton. These men permitted MIssouri to make timely adjustments in spending patterns when many other states were spending at pre-recession levels, thereby compounding their budget problems now.

John Ashcroft is no more responsible for the recession than the members of the General Assembly, either this year's 86th session or last year's 85th. And the governor is on firm ground when he insists that no action should be taken at this moment in the recession to add to state revenue to meet the current shortfall. Thanks to the financial acumen of Moulton and others in the executive office, considerable revenue will be generated on a contingency basis to get Missouri through this temporary, and hopefully brief, recessionary period so that emergency taxes will not have to be levied.

Members of the General Assembly, several whom have joined in the verbal lynching of the governor, would do well to recall their culpability in all of this. After all, it was last year's legislature that loudly announced for all to hear that an election year was not time to tinker with tax rates and improved state services. Lawmakers were not anxious to diminish their re-election chances by worrying about something as "inconsequential" as adequate funding for essential services.

Indeed, one can look to the General Assembly for more than its share of blame in the current financial problems in Jefferson City. Few Missourians now recall that in his very first budget as governor, back in 1985, John Ashcroft urged legislators to begin funding the so-called "rainy day fund," a reserve account that would see the state through financial crises such as the one now being experienced. The legislative response to that early request was to do nothing the same response according subsequent requests. Had the General Assembly followed Ashcroft's initial recommendation of $20 million for the Budget Stabilization Fund, there would be no crisis today, now would there be an cancellation or interruption of programs and services to needy Missourians.

It is both fair and fitting at this point to note a third group of culpable Missourians in the present budget crisis. That group includes those citizens who automatically reject any form of taxation, regardless of the need, to provide officials with adequate funds to carry out important, vital services. No one willingly throws money away, but there is a point at which parsimony leads to self harm, when programs denied serve to damage those doing the denying, and this is the case in countless services ranging from public and higher education to social and assistance programs. It is a lesson we ignore at our own risk.