This budget plan can’t be serious
A number of prominent Republican candidates, including incoming Gov. Tate Reeves and incoming Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, spent this year’s election cycle talking about ambitious plans for raising teacher pay, to name one issue that will require an investment of more tax dollars.
And then the Joint Legislative Budget Committee came along last week and undercut those campaign promises with a proposed budget that actually reduces state spending.
Reeves is a member of the committee and said it wanted to give the new Legislature, which takes office in January, “maximum flexibility” with next year’s budget.
They certainly did that, recommending nearly $6.3 billion in spending for the budget year that begins July 1. That’s actually $94 million less than the state plans to spend during the current year, a figure that belies the campaign claims that an improving economy is increasing tax revenue.
From a political standpoint, it’s pretty clear that the committee intentionally low-balled its spending recommendation in a very substantial manner. That way, the new legislators will be the group that looks good — when it announces a few months from now that because tax revenue is increasing, the state can allocate more money for teacher pay and any other needs the Legislature chooses to address.
This is understandable. The outgoing budget committee is doing a favor for the incoming group by setting a very low bar. While last week’s proposal carries no weight at all, it is still sending a mixed message by proposing to reduce state spending after candidates talked a lot about finally being willing and able to address various elements that have been shortchanged.
Last week’s proposal actually called for an increase of less than 1 percent in public school spending, while spending for community colleges and universities would decrease. If the current budget committee was serious about that, then it’s probably a good thing a new group is coming in next month.
And if it wasn’t serious with its budget proposal, then in all honesty, why bother?
Jack Ryan, Enterprise-Journal
Another county changes ballots
It may not represent a strong trend, but it is certainly newsworthy that Lafayette County supervisors apparently are planning to switch back to paper ballots for future elections.
The supervisors of the north Mississippi county have approved seeking bids for new voting machines. While touchscreen machines have been popular and widespread in the state for more than a decade, Lafayette County wants to use machines that will count paper ballots.
If the county sticks to this plan, it will be only the 13th of Mississippi’s 82 counties to use paper ballots for elections. One of the county’s supervisors said the board is making the change so that election officials will have a record of ballots to review if there’s ever a question about voting results.
This is an about-face from the 2000 presidential election, which exposed flaws in Florida’s paper-ballot election system. The country spent several years devising electronic voting systems, but its flaws have become evident.
The most obvious one is that the touchscreen voting machines originally were designed to print out a paper ballot of the voter’s selections. But when the printers started malfunctioning, many counties disconnected them.
This created the risk of not having a backup report if a serious malfunction or a hack occurred. It ultimately led some counties, including four of the six most populous in Mississippi, to decide they’re better off with paper ballots.
Electronic voting still seems like the way of the future. But until a reliable backup system is developed, paper ballots are the safe move.
Jack Ryan, Enterprise-Journal
Trump just can’t stop the insults
Here’s the most annoying thing about President Trump: He is either incapable of making wise choices about whom to insult and whom to ignore — or worse, he is unwilling.
The thought comes to mind after the president belittled Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old girl from Sweden who has become the face of young people demanding urgent action to stop global warming.
It is true that Thunberg opened herself to criticism by becoming a public figure. Trump apparently mocked her because Time magazine chose her as its Person of the Year. Still, the president has nothing more to do than suggest on Twitter that she work on her anger management problem and go to a movie?
The man is facing impeachment, has a re-election campaign to think about and is trying to get a NAFTA upgrade through Congress — and he bullies a teenager on social media?
People have written about Trump Derangement Syndrome to describe those who despise the president so much they can’t discuss him rationally. But there needs to be a separate mental condition entered into the political lexicon: Trump Fatigue Syndrome.
His antics so often are so wearisome and un-presidential. Go harass Nancy Pelosi instead.
Jack Ryan, Enterprise-Journal
