What Does The National Governors Association Do For Ohio?
In recent years, Ohio taxpayers have spent around $170,000 annually in dues so that Ohio’s chief executive can be a member of the National Governors Association (NGA). Although the NGA has temporarily reduced Ohio’s dues in light of the state’s budget crunch, Ohio should consider withdrawing from NGA entirely.
In tight budgetary times all government spending should be scrutinized, especially a program spending four to five times what the average Ohioan earns. The dues paid to NGA help the organization carry out its mission, which includes representing the interests of the states in Washington, D.C. In essence, the NGA is a lobbying organization hired by the states.
The benefits of NGA membership for Ohio are not readily apparent. For example, the association prides itself on providing “networking seminars for state government executive branch officials.” The same result, however, could easily be achieved at a much lower cost by simply picking up the phone. NGA also provides a biannual conference that gives governors an opportunity to get together to share ideas. At one of the most recent meetings, Ohio Governor Bob Taft and Florida Governor Jeb Bush placed a friendly wager on the outcome of the Ohio State University – University of Miami national championship football game. So this networking opportunity did allow Ohioans to see Jeb Bush don an OSU football jersey after Miami lost to OSU.
The NGA bills itself as “the collective voice of the nation’s governors.” The short-term nature of NGA chairmanship and membership, however, means that most of the policy decisions are not made by the governors but by the career staff. This has resulted in the NGA lobbying against federal proposals that a significant number, if not a majority, of the nation’s governors agree with.
The NGA has lobbied against President Bush’s income tax cuts, against capital gains tax cuts, and against welfare reform. When Texas governor Rick Perry left the organization in February (saving Texas taxpayers $166,000 a year) he cited both budgetary and ideological reasons. A spokeswoman for Perry noted, “the governor has not always agreed with the positions that the NGA has taken, some of which have been liberal and some anti-President Bush.”
Others argue that the NGA is superfluous, in that states are already represented in Washington by a state’s congressional delegation. In 2001, then Alabama Governor Fob James left the NGA after saying that “Alabama’s interests in Washington can be better represented by the state’s congressional delegation.” His decision saved Alabama taxpayers $100,000.
Even if the NGA is successful in getting the federal government to appropriate additional money to the states, federal funds don’t appear out of nowhere. If Ohio is to get more federal tax dollars, one of two things has to happen. The federal government either reduces funding to other states by the amount sent to Ohio, or federal taxes on everyone (including Ohioans) have to increase. Since the NGA represents all governors, the latter is the most likely result of effective NGA lobbying.
Tax increases have been proposed as a way to deal with the impending budget shortfall. Before tax increases are discussed, perhaps Ohio should stop all funding to an association that lobbies Congress to increase federal spending, and hence the federal taxes that Ohioans pay.
Aengus Barry is a former policy analyst with The Buckeye Institute.
