So, our state government doesn’t have enough revenue to cover expenses? What a surprise!
What should they do -- our governor and our legislators -- the people we elected to represent us, the people holding a public trust that requires, at the minimum, fiscal responsibility?
They can do what we, their constituents and employers, do when our personal finances prove inadequate: raise more revenue or reduce expenses.
It’s not that complicated. There are two options: find more money or spend less of it.
There is that third option -- borrowing money -- but that only postpones the day of reckoning and makes things worse in the meantime.
Lucky for the Legislature, the office of State Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has been able to return more than $16 million to the state’s General Fund since he took office.
That includes the $9 million his office agreed to return earlier this month, which will allow the Legislature to bridge an otherwise unfunded gap and keep the Medicaid Aged and Disabled Waiver Program going.
“I have always believed that the Legislature should control the power of the purse and that the Attorney General should return settlement money to the General Fund while maintaining appropriate resources for the Consumer Protection Division,” Morrisey said.
“This money is the people’s money,” he affirmed. “It rightfully should be returned to the General Fund to benefit all citizens and taxpayers.”
What a contrast with the sentiment and practice of his predecessor, a man who took advantage of state settlement monies to establish a slush fund to reward cronies and facilitate his reelection – all with the knowledge and acceptance of his fellow Democratic Party members in the Legislature.
We sure could use some of those misappropriated, misdirected, and misspent funds now.
They’re gone, but members of the Legislature who were complicit in Darrell McGraw’s mischief should stop pestering his more ethical successor and thank Morrisey instead.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have the money Darrell McGraw squandered?
