It all starts with zero...(Epilogue to this morning)

 

 

"The difference between how the government works and how business works is more different than night and day..."

Many years ago, one of the finest men I ever worked for taught me quite a bit about the business world. He was no pushover. In fact, he was as tough as nails. At least once a week (sometimes more), he would call me in his office. He had just been promoted from Director to General Manager, so he had some stripes on his sleeve. He would say to me, "Tell me something I don't know". It was then up to me to show him I had been doing my homework. I had information from the customer which yielded fresh info for the company. One day I asked why my boss why he did that to his staff. His response was simple - "I may like you personally, but your value to me everyday is zero unless you can show me you are earning your paycheck. You need to show me you can do things I can't. If you can't, why keep you?" Tough words, but true words. What he really said was, it all starts with zero.

Zero. It is becoming one of my favorite words. When I worked on the Jeff Johnson campaign for Governor, Jeff spoke of that word frequently. He wanted to take the temperature of every program. Find out which are working. Which are redundant. He wanted to fund every program as zero. Then a case could be made for funding. No more of this, "Well last year we had this much, and next year we need "x" % higher. It was a true "show cause" type of budgeting.

Back to this morning. When the special session starts, the Speaker should begin by reminding the other two statists that it all starts with zero. The House in the state, just like the House of Representatives for the country, really belongs to the people. More so than the Senate or the Governor, or even the President. The House controls the purse strings. Our purse strings. It is the closest to the citizens. Therefore, the Speaker should listen to his people. The ones who elected him. We don't give a rat's butt if he becomes fast friends with the Senate Leader or the Governor. He can do that on his own time. We have a runaway government and we need to know the Speaker is on our side.

When I was working and would negotiate major deals, I always got excited before the even. Fired up if you will. Soon it would be go time. Now it is go time for the Speaker. Time to get this spending under control. Time to some we have some balls and just say NO! If the state shuts down, so what? Most will never know anyhow (unless they listen to the lap dog media).

Okay Kurt. Lets do it. Remember your base. Status quo will no longer work. Kurt, if you want to run for Governor (as has been rumored), you need to excite the base. Here is your chance to make a big splash with your constituents. The regular session excited nobody. Time to get it on Mr. Speaker. We need to get this beast under control. Are you with us? Or are you with the fishing buddies...