According to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), it is up in the air currently as to whether or not government employees will receive a paycheck this Friday. Due to budgetary shortfalls and unexpected expenditures, there isn't enough money this week to make payroll.
In order to address this shortfall, legislators proposed an inter-governmental loan, a proposal blocked by the Republican majority. Sebelius called them "petty political games", but any reader here knows that it's just indicative of the systemic wingnuttery exhibited by Republicans across the country -- locally and nationally.
They just don't get it. This is a serious time we're facing. This is exactly why the stimulus President Obama signed today is needed.
Believe it or not, this is an issue that hits pretty close to home. My sister-in-law and mother are both state employees -- Aimee just took a job in Adult Rehabilitation, and my Mother is a supervisor of the CINC division in Wichita. My stepdad, Jim, is a democratic legislator and house Minority leader in the Kansas House -- I wonder how he voted!
Kathleen Sebelius had harsh words for the obstructionists:
"Through their refusal to act today, the Republican legislative leadership is jeopardizing our citizens’ pocketbooks for no other reason than to play political games — games in which the only ones set to lose are Kansas families, workers and schools".
From the rest of the article:
The state’s general fund had $10.4 million in it Monday morning, Goossen said. The state’s payroll is $24 million, and state officials start processing those checks Wednesday for payment Friday. Last Friday, the state stopped paying income tax refunds because of the lack of cash.
The fireworks erupted after Sebelius requested a $225 million certificate of indebtedness to handle payments during the current low cash-flow period. Certificates of indebtedness, which have become almost routine during the past 10 years, allow the state to move funds around for cash-flow purposes.
Issuing the certificates requires agreement from legislative leaders, and the state has already issued $550 million worth during the current fiscal year.
If it's so routine, then why oppose it?
They demanded that Sebelius, a Democrat, cut the budget first to close an increasing revenue gap.
And they said that under state law, the certificates can only be issued if it can be certified there will be enough funds at the end of the fiscal year to cover them. According to a memo from the Kansas Department of Legislative Research, it doesn’t appear that would be the case, the Republicans said. "This is important work, and we do intend to comply with the law," O’Neal said.
Republicans have always been concerned with upholding the law, so long as the laws being broken were by other people (nevermind Abu Ghraib, Larry Craig, Illegal Wiretapping, etc. etc. ad nauseum). But when it comes to making sure state employees get paid in the worst recession since the Great Depression, then there's no sympathy or negotiation.
I don't want to see my tax dollars go to waste, and I've been to the DMV enough to know that there are people employed by the state and local governments who probably shouldn't be. There's a lot of bureaucracy and red-tape, and it's impossible to fire even the worst performers without even more bureaucracy. That probably should be addressed, no doubt.
But this doesn't mean that people who are working hard to accomplish the work required of the citizenry -- building bridges and roads, processing benefits for unemployment, or taking care of veterans, the elderly, people with mental disorders, or our children -- need to suffer because of lack of planning on the part of our government. They often toil behind the scenes, getting their hands dirty for wages far below what they could command in the private sector simply so we don't have to take it on ourselves. It's wrong to overlook those contributions for something as petty as political points.
Sebelius' budget person hinted at this:
But Sebelius’ budget director Goossen said the Republican leaders were wrong if they believe there is a legal impediment to approving the certificates. "That is simply not correct," he said.
Under the law, the secretary of administration must certify that the state will take the actions necessary to cover the certificates. Goossen is also secretary of administration, and he said he will guarantee that the state will do what is necessary budgetarily to pay off the certificates.
Kansas is a very red state, but it has been bluing as of late. Here are some of the comments from (D) legislators:
Democrats said the Republicans, who hold significant majorities in the Legislature, were trying to pressure Sebelius into making budget cuts she doesn’t want to make by threatening to shut down government.
"This is a helluva way to run a railroad," Senate Democratic Leader Anthony Hensley of Topeka said. "It is blackmail at its worst, maybe coercion at its best," he said.
House Democratic Leader Paul Davis of Lawrence said, "This is not a time for partisan politics. We’re talking about essential payments so that services provided by the state can continue."
Lisa Ochs, president of the Kansas Organization of State Employees, criticized Republican legislative leaders, adding, "Paychecks shouldn’t be held hostage to political maneuvering".
We are gaining ground here. We have a Democratic governor. We have a Democratic congressman (Dennis Moore, here in Johnson County area). And, with actions like this, Republicans will ensure that we build on those and add more to our ranks. Every action you take that isn't for the people you represent will be remembered and come back to haunt you -- ESPECIALLY if that decision screws around with their pocketbooks.