A Good Start
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 By Marc KilmerRepublicans in the General Assembly have a plan that is a good beginning on a much-needed overhaul of state government:
Ohio legislative Republicans yesterday urged Gov. Ted Strickland to embrace a massive downsizing of state government that they said could go a long way toward solving the budgetary crisis.
The plan calls for consolidating 24 cabinet-level departments into 10 or 11 and eliminating 11,448 state jobs, nearly a fifth of the state work force, through attrition, for a projected saving of about $1 billion a year.
Consolidation is good; elimination is better. While they are at it, they can also work on repealing the state income tax. Cutting government and letting Ohioans keep more of the money they earn — the best stimulus plan the state could have.
January 28th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Interesting how the Republicans now love this plan! Of course, when then attorney general and candidate for governor Jim Petro proposed it a few years ago, the plan was, at best, ignored. That is, ignored by the Republican controlled House, the Republican controlled Senate, and the Republican governor. Oh, and also ignored by Republican voters as they nominated Ken Blackwell over Jim Petro.
I think the current Republican leadership would have more credibility if they had embraced it when it was first proposed instead of waiting to use it as a cudgel on the Democrats. If they REALLY liked this idea, they could have implemented it when they controlled the entire government!
Having said all this, I know Jim Petro and know that he is a serious and sincere person. He is also very organized, and has some pretty good ideas. His plan could save some money, and it notably does not even eliminate any governmental functions. The plan is probably good. The hypocrites who now embrace it–not so much.
January 29th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
It certainly seems that the GOP embraces its limited government principles with much more ardor when it is in the opposition than when it is in a position to govern. That is the case at both the state and federal level, unfortunately.