Thursday, March 17, 2011

Wasting money to argue about money

Frankfort is a mess right now.

The General Assembly's "special" session carries a price tag of $63,000 each day.

Governor Steve Beshear is traveling the state by plane to defend his plan to borrow $166 million from next year's budget to cover this year's Medicaid budget shortfall. Traveling by plane is not cheap.

Kentucky's citizens, taxpayers, are tired of politicians spending more and more money to argue about money. The first place the Governor and General Assembly should look for funds to fill the Medicaid gap is the money they are wasting in special session and the travel, security, and staff costs associated with flying all over the state.

What is more frustrating is that the governor believes he is doing his duty by traveling around. When asked to defend his state sponsored travels, the governor replied:

"The government is paying for the governor of this commonwealth to do his duty to go out in this state and inform the citizens of this state on what the state senate is attempting to do to the children of this state and the folks who need health care in this state"
I don't remember reading anything about going out in the state to barnstorm in the state constitution. In a time when citizens are required to tighten their belts, so should the government.

No comments: