A bad NC budget earns a veto

The Republicans in the General Assembly who’ve run that body like schoolyard bullies since 2011 will run over Gov. Roy Cooper’s right-minded veto of their budget. But the governor was right to do what he did. The budget is shortsighted, and a gift to the wealthy and business disguised, and not very well, in the sheep’s clothing of modest teacher raises and tax cuts far more beneficial to the rich than to the poor and the middle class.

But beware of huffing and puffing too much, dear Republicans. Yes, you can override any veto. But in Roy Cooper, you are up against a veteran legislator and former attorney general who won’t be running off the playground. He’s not Pat McCrory, an affable enough fellow who was in way over his head in the governor’s office and was disrespected by those in his own Republican Party. McCrory didn’t know how to fight; Cooper does.

The budget is awful. Teacher raises of an average 3 percent are paltry, as is the cost-of-living raise for state retirees. With an opportunity, given a healthy economy, to invest more in public education, legislators went on the cheap – but boosted their voucher program giving public money to people to send their kids to private school. And purely for spite, they cut the budget of the governor’s office and the state Attorney General’s Office, both held by Democrats.

And in 2019, rich folks will like a cut in the state income tax, of most use to them, and businesses will like the cut in the corporate income tax rate from 3 percent to 2.5 percent.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with low taxes. But Republicans have continued to submit anemic budgets – particularly related to education and programs to boost health care and safeguard the environment – that reflect a state in the midst of a recession, which North Carolina is not. And they’ve put hundreds of millions of dollars into a rainy day fund – a phony political maneuver that is solely intended as a bragging point, that they’ve got the state ready for an emergency. But in a true emergency such as a natural disaster, it would take only a matter of minutes for legislators to convene and appropriate money. This fund is bulging while needs in rural communities go unmet.

Cooper would prefer a budget to eliminate the private school vouchers and abandon the corporate tax cut. Teachers could then get better raises and the state could invest more in expanding broadband internet access. Those ideas represent leadership.

The Republican ideas, such as they are reflected in their budget, are about boosting the fortunes of the rich and keeping that GOP boot on the necks of the poor and the middle class. Cooper’s loss on the budget fight will in fact be a victory of integrity.

This story was originally published June 27, 2017 at 3:47 PM with the headline "A bad NC budget earns a veto."