Raleigh News & Observer Logo

Oops, they did it again | Raleigh News & Observer

×
  • E-edition
    • Customer Service
    • Support
    • Contact Us
    • About Us
    • FAQ
    • Sponsorships
    • Stay connected
    • Mobile & Apps
    • Facebook
    • Google+
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
    • Social Media Directory
    • N&O Store
    • Buy Photos
    • Databases
    • Archives
    • Newsletters

    • Blogs
    • Columnists
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Health
    • Local
    • North Carolina
    • Nation/World
    • Science
    • Thumbs Up
    • Traffic
    • Weather
    • Weird News
    • All News
    • Counties
    • Durham County
    • Johnston County
    • Orange County
    • Wake County
    • All Sports
    • Baseball
    • Canes
    • College
    • Columns & Blogs
    • High Schools
    • NASCAR & Auto Racing
    • NBA
    • NFL
    • NHL
    • Olympics
    • Outdoors
    • Panthers
    • Soccer
    • Schools
    • Duke
    • East Carolina
    • NC State
    • North Carolina
    • All Politics
    • The North Carolina Influencer Series
    • State Politics
    • Blogs
    • Columnists
    • PolitiFact
    • PolitiFact NC
    • Rob Christensen
    • Under the Dome
    • All Business
    • Blogs
    • Columnists
    • Health Care
    • Personal Finance
    • Real Estate
    • Shop Talk
    • Stocks Center
    • Technology
    • All Living
    • Video Now
    • Best-Kept Secrets
    • Blogs
    • Celebrations
    • Comics
    • Family
    • Fashion
    • Fitness
    • Food
    • Games and Puzzles
    • Home and Garden
    • Horoscopes
    • Mouthful
    • Past Times
    • Pets
    • Religion
    • Travel
    • Video Now
    • Arts News
    • ArtsNow
    • Books
    • Contests
    • Dining
    • Entertainment
    • Games
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Nightlife
    • Television
    • On the Beat
    • Happiness is a Warm TV
    • All Opinion
    • Columnists
    • Dwane Powell
    • Editorials
    • Influencers Opinion
    • Letters
    • Opinion Shop Blog
    • Other Views
    • Submit a Letter
  • Obituaries

    • Advertise with us
    • Place Ad
    • Apartments
    • Cars
    • Homes
    • Jobs
    • Legals
    • Obits/In Memoriams
    • Weddings
    • Today's Daily Deal
    • Special Sections
    • Today's Circulars
    • Rewards
    • Photo Store
  • Classifieds
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Cars
  • Homes
  • Legals

Smithfield: Opinion

Oops, they did it again

By Patrick Gannon

pgannon@ncinsider.com

    ORDER REPRINT →

June 09, 2016 04:45 PM

RALEIGH

Oops, they did it again.

Senate Republican leaders released their $22.2 billion budget for 2016-17 to the public through the General Assembly website at 11:52 p.m. on a recent Tuesday, about nine hours before its initial consideration by senators on the Appropriations Committee.

Two days and a few minutes later, just after midnight on a Friday morning, the full Senate approved the spending plan on a party-line vote, setting up negotiations between the House and Senate on a final plan to send to Gov. Pat McCrory.

That Tuesday afternoon, Senate leaders called a news conference to tout the teacher raises, tax cuts and other highlights of their budget proposal, with one key document missing: the actual budget, which would be posted to www.ncleg.net about eight hours later.

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to The News & Observer

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

It’s not the first time a late-night budget release has occurred in recent memory, and it probably won’t be the last. In years covering General Assembly budgets, I’ve yet to hear a legitimate reason why budgets must be released in such a fashion and voted on hours later.

With that in mind, here are 10 possible reasons – some serious, some not so much – that legislators release their budgets when most working people are asleep. I’ll let you decide the real reasons, because I simply don’t know.

10) By 11:52 p.m., 11 p.m. TV newscasts are over and newspapers have gone to press. That ensures that first-day media coverage is based on the highlights promoted by Senate Republicans during the 4 p.m. news conference, not on any budget proposals that could be roundly criticized.

9) They derive pleasure out of scrolling through Twitter and reading all of the tweets from lobbyists, journalists and others who are furiously refreshing the General Assembly website hoping the budget will appear.

8) Democrats rolled out budgets in similar fashion when they were in power too. An “eye for an eye” is in the Bible, you know.

7) Democrats won’t have enough time to read it and propose good amendments by the next morning, and the public will have little time to mount any significant opposition, which, of course, would disrupt the democratic process.

6) They need to make sure budget copies have cooled sufficiently from the printer because they would never want to burn their colleagues in the Democratic Party.

5) They want to give Democrats those extra eight minutes on Tuesday night to read the budget, just like they gave committee members five minutes to read House Bill 2.

4) General Assembly staffers need more time to proofread the budget documents and prepare them for release, and they never complete that task during daytime hours.

3) Legislators, lobbyists, journalists and everyone else who cares what’s in the state budget are all well trained in speed reading. It’s no big deal.

2) They want to release the budget late at night to get everyone’s sleep patterns sufficiently messed up so their bodies will be ready when the Senate takes the second required budget vote just after midnight a couple of days later.

1) Because they can.

Patrick Gannon is the editor of The Insider State Government News Service in Raleigh. Reach him at pgannon@ncinsider.com.

  Comments  

Videos

Mark Harris’ son makes an emotional statement on his parents after his testimony

‘Seems to me he might be kind of a shady character,’ Harris’ son says of McCrae Dowless

View More Video

Trending Stories

Will former President Obama attend the Duke-UNC game? Here’s the latest buzz.

February 19, 2019 06:30 PM

Hurricanes owner Dundon takes over new football league

February 19, 2019 08:43 AM

State employee’s excessive sick pay needs review

February 19, 2019 12:00 AM

John Harris warned his father about legal red flags involving Bladen operative

February 20, 2019 02:13 PM

Historic Gables Motor Lodge sells for $850,000. Singer Tift Merritt is one of the buyers.

February 19, 2019 04:09 PM

Read Next

Smithfield: Opinion

Your Letters

Only the extremists grab headlines

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to The News & Observer

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE SMITHFIELD: OPINION

Smithfield: Opinion

Don’t fear a robot invasion

April 27, 2017 11:52 AM

Smithfield: Opinion

School system is making an effort

April 27, 2017 11:52 AM

Smithfield: Opinion

Many factors at play in health-care debate

April 20, 2017 12:20 PM

Smithfield: Opinion

We fear what we do not understand

April 20, 2017 12:19 PM

Smithfield: Opinion

Schoolyard brawl returns to Raleigh

April 13, 2017 11:00 AM

Smithfield: Opinion

Campuses should foster free speech

April 13, 2017 10:59 AM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

Raleigh News & Observer App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Triangletoday.com
  • Legal Notices
Advertising
  • Advertise With Us
  • About Our Ads
  • Place a Classified
  • Local Deals
  • N&O Store
  • N&O Photos
Copyright
Commenting Policy
Report News
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use


Back to Story