Fucked-Up Budget of the Millenium

It's one thing to play around with your pet projects when the budget is sound and the economy's humming along, but years of plunging revenue that have the state facing a major budget catastrophe is no time to fly your favorite fiscal fantasies.

Like the magical gambling machines that will make us all millionaires.

Tonight Governor Steve Beshear will do as we all predicted by calling for gambling a third time.

Here are two choice phrases from his budget that are causing dry heaves all across the land (thanks to all who sent it to me):

* “Proposal uses limited gaming, a recurring revenue, to balance”
* “Conservative, responsible approach”

Meanwhile, horse industry insiders tell me that the governor is still impossible to work with and that he refuses to do any heavy lifting. Organizations like KEEP have gone silent over the last few weeks. Democratic legislators left and right are backing away in fear. So this failure should be extra easy.

Grab your ankles and get ready. The deets are coming at 7ish tonight.

Update - By doing this, the governor effectively positions the legislature as the bad guy. Cause they’re now the folks responsible for stripping gambling from the budget. How will the House react? Individual legislators are calling me in the midst of foaming at the mouth.

Only one question remains: Who is the next Republican governor? Crit isn’t running and Greg probably won’t risk it.

BIG UPDATE: Okay, here we go.

Here’s how Beshear is going to try scare people into gambling:

The budget proposal assumes approximately $780 million in revenue from video lottery terminals over the next two years. Without gaming revenue, the cuts to the impacted agencies increase significantly – over 12 percent in the first year of the biennium, and 34 percent in the second year. This comes on top 20 percent to 25 percent cuts many of these agencies have already faced.

“Cuts of this magnitude would undoubtedly lead to mass layoffs and would inflict devastating damage on literally hundreds of critical services to communities and individuals around the Commonwealth, such as prenatal care, water permits, air quality inspections, social workers and fire inspections of public facilities like day-care centers and schools,” Gov. Beshear said.

SNIP

Quote of the night:

“We are not in this financial crisis because of our tax structure. And changing our tax structure isn’t going to get us out of this financial crisis.”

Read the whole thing.

Then bend over and kiss your ass good-bye. Face it Kentucky: Governor Steve Beshear is not a member of the reality-based community.

I agree with Jake that Crit Luallen will not run for Governor in 2011, but I disagree with him that Greg Stumbo won't either. I think Stumbo will beat Beshear (or Abramson if Stevie has reached the feces-flinging stage by then) in the primary to face Ritchie Farmer in the general. And if Stumbo loses to Farmer, we're all going to be pining for the halcyon days of the Beshear administration.