GIVE HIGH PRIORITY TO CUTTING POLITICAL PATRONAGE.

Byline: Tony Strickland 

A few weeks ago, Governor Davis held a press conference flanked by law enforcement officers from throughout the state. The message was that public-safety funding would be cut unless the governor was allowed to raise taxes.

Last week, a community college counselor wrote me to say the school's student enrollment will have to be cut in half next year because of plans to lay off professors and academic counselors. Governor Davis warned community college officials that their budgets will be subject to significant cuts this year.

I disagree with the governor. Public safety and education should not be first on the chopping block during a budget crisis. We must first look to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse.

One of the first areas in which I would look to reduce waste are the many state boards and commissions used by the governor, Assembly speaker and Senate president pro tem to reward their political supporters. There are more than 60 state boards and commissions in existence, costing taxpayers $360 million annually.

Appointments to state boards and commissions are "political gimmies," handed to political supporters and friends by high-ranking state politicians.

Many state board and commission members are paid more than $110,000 a year for their service, even though they meet only once or twice a month.

Very few, if any, of the officers who stood with Governor Davis at his press conference make $110,000 a year, and they work risking their lives every day. Local schools can hire two or three quality teachers with the salary of just one commissioner. In a time when the state is scaling back education funding and reducing public safety services, it is now more than ever wrong to ask taxpayers to pay for political handouts.

Unfortunately, Democrat legislators along with the governor disagree. During the emergency legislative session meant to tackle our budget deficit, I offered a proposal to eliminate these boards and commissions. My proposal was not even given the opportunity to be discussed and was immediately tabled and dismissed.

My Democrat colleagues find it easy to talk about cutting the number of officers patrolling our streets, cutting the number of teachers in our classrooms, and even allowing prisoners to be released early. They did not even have a problem tripling the car tax paid by taxpayers who work very hard every day. However, they have a problem just entertaining the thought of cutting some of their friends from lucrative political appointments paying $110,000 a year for one or two meetings a month.

To be fair, members of both parties have enjoyed these patronage appointments in recent years. It's just become accepted practice. However, we should take advantage of this fact to develop bipartisan support to reform the boards and commissions arrangement.

It's time for a change. Sure, it won't be easy, as many appointments go to former legislators, a fact known by current legislators in this age of term limits. But it is the right thing to do.

Admittedly, the $360 million spent on these bodies is just a portion of the $26 billion deficit that our state faces. But the best approach to solve our budget woes is to set priorities, and then cut or reduce the lowest-priority items first.

And "political gimmies" cannot be considered a high priority.