Whistling Past our Graveyard
By Linda Kirker 

The latest state revenue downgrade (another $28 million for this fiscal year and $23 million more for 2011) demonstrates just how right Governor Douglas was to veto the supermajority Democrats'  unrealistic and unsustainable spending. It demonstrates just how right all House Republicans and Independents were to support the Governor in opposing the Democrats' budget. And it demonstrates just how dangerous it is for one party to have total control of our government. Jim Douglas' veto was, as we know, overridden by the Democrat/Progressive supermajorities, and the result is what we have today.

The Democrats and Progressives have enjoyed majorities in both chambers of the legislature for five years, supermajorities for the past three years, and now have unchecked control over what comes out of Montpelier. Unfortunately, they don't want to use the power the voters entrusted them with to deal with the economic crisis. They would much rather play at being social engineers by taking up issues like gay marriage and using taxpayer dollars to subsidize their political cronies' windmill and solar businesses while claiming to save the planet.

After Democrats took supermajority control in 2007, Vermont's revenue crisis was becoming apparent. Even Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin (D-Putney) recognized as early February 2007, "There is no more tax capacity left in Vermont. There is no money left in the bank" (Rutland Herald, Feb. 1, 2007). So, what did Shumlin and his supermajority do to get on top of the problem before this became a crisis? What was their number one priority?...  Global warming. Remember the weeks of "seminars" in the well of the House?

A year goes by. It's 2008. The economy is sputtering. Gas is at $4 a gallon and home heating fuel prices are skyrocketing. Vermonters are really starting to feel the pinch. Shumlin states at the outset of the legislative session that he realizes fuel prices, health care costs and property taxes are "killing" Vermonters. So, what issue do the all powerful Democrat supermajorities decide to tackle this time?... Global warming!... Again! (People can't afford to heat their homes, so we better make the planet colder quick, goes their "thinking.")

A whole biennium is wasted. By the time 2009 arrives, the "worst recession since the Great Depression" is full upon us, state revenues are tanking, jobs are fleeing the state, 25,000 Vermonters are on unemployment. What was the Democrat Supermajorities' number one priority this year? The economy? No.... It was gay marriage.

What else did the Democrats/Progressives do in the midst of a faltering economy? This past session they raised taxes on already struggling Vermonters by $26 million. Despite dramatically declining revenues, they grew the size of state government by over three percent. They increased the cost of everyone's electric bills. They pushed through a five cent per gallon gasoline tax. They created a $230 million dollar and growing hole in the budget by 2012 that we have no ability or recognizable means to pay for without either massive cuts in services or massive tax increase. All of these actions are harmful to working families, small businesses, and the economy in general.

This is an agenda and a record that is not only out of touch with the hard working people of Vermont, is a record totally out of touch with reality.

In a recent Op-Ed, Franklin County Democrat Chairwoman Ewen Bear tries to blame Governor Douglas for what she calls "false economies" and his stalwart opposition to new taxes. Bear, like the Democrat Party she represents, believes government should increase taxes on hardworking Vermonters, who are seeing less and less take-home pay as it is, in order to foot the bill for pay increases, gold-plated benefits, and even greater job security for government union workers. Not only is this flagrantly unfair, it is an unsustainable economic policy. It is exactly the kind of thinking that is chasing our young people, our entrepreneurs, and our job creators out of the state, and with them our ability to fund a real safety net for those who truly need it.

We need to support and elect candidates for office who understand the critical need to reform our government to allow for economic growth and prosperity. Governor Douglas is one of those candidates. But, as this last sessions' veto-overrides prove beyond any doubt, he also needs many more Republican Representatives and Senators who will work with him to fix our economy and put our people back to work. The Democrats simply aren't willing or able to do the job.

Linda Kirker is the current Chairman of the Franklin County Republican Party