The editors of the Springfield Republican newspaper believe that Bay Staters should be embarrassed by the fact that the state legislature is the only one in the country that did not pass an annual budget by June 30th, the last day of the fiscal year. So you might wonder, why should this be embarrassing? What is causing the delay? What are the meaningful consequences of the delay? Is the delay the result of political malfeasance, laziness, or what?
The Republican’s editors do not believe there are legitimate reasons for the delay. They simply dismiss the reasons given by legislative leaders as if they could not possibly be real. Apparently, the simple fact that the fiscal year ended without the enactment of the next fiscal year’s budget ought to embarrass the citizens of Massachusetts because every other state legislature was able to turn in their homework on time. The editors seem to believe that annual budget enactment is a routine process and that passing budgets is simply a matter of politicians being willing to “do their jobs.” That is presumably why they start their editorial by pointing out that last year when the budget included raises for legislators, it passed on time. Or maybe the stuff about the budget passing on time when it included pay raises was just a cynical effort to imply that politicians only work hard or in a timely way when their own interests are at stake. If newspaper editors actually believe that this is a reasonable assumption, then an enlightened and informed democratic electorate really is just a pipedream.
The Republican editors explicitly reveal their vacuous and cynical perspective as follows: “The point is that this is bad business. It’s become routine, and a poor habit of ineptitude for a full-time Legislature that is well aware of the calendar and its deadlines.” Comically, the editors acknowledge that missing this deadline is very unlikely to produce any actual policy consequences, which is why they choose to focus their indictment on legislators’ tardiness. One might wonder if the editors would similarly scold their staff for holding up their own publication past a printing deadline in order to get an important developing story right before reporting on it. Judging from the quality of the argument in this editorial, I’m going to say no.
In reality, public budgeting is complicated and complex and it is far more susceptible than commercial or personal budgeting to environmental influences which often are aggravated by “the calendar and its deadlines.” The Republican editors don’t understand the difference between public and private sector budgeting but they do understand that most of their readers share the popular misconception that public budgets shouldn’t be political. They even use Governor Baker’s willfully ignorant statement about separating policy negotiations from spending bill deliberations as cover on this point.
Scolding politicians for missing deadlines is a VERY easy way to pander to and perpetuate popular distrust and disdain for politics and politicians. Clearly explaining the complicated political negotiations required to pass the state budget would be difficult, time-consuming, and would require a lot more resources spent on reporting about state politics and policymaking than any newspaper can afford these days.