“Plan beats no plan.”
That line is attributed to former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, as an admonition to his colleagues during the 2008-09 financial crisis to be prepared to act however the circumstances might change. It applies just as well to sessions of our General Assembly — the one just-ended, and the next one to come.
As Georgia’s legislators Thursday night prepared to adjourn for the year, a lot of people who put a lot of work into the session found themselves wondering why they had bothered. Advocates for charter-school kids, foster kids, autistic kids and seizure-prone kids joined business groups, religious groups, cityhood proponents and most taxpayers in watching legislators abandon their causes in the final days and hours of the session.
Fingers were pointed. House leaders expressed disbelief at senators’ intransigence on minor changes to benefit charter schools and an ever-diminishing medical marijuana bill for those kids with seizures. Senators expressed equal exasperation at the House’s refusal to pass an autism insurance mandate and a scaled-back privatization of the state’s foster care and adoption services.
Now, there is a penchant for political stagecraft under the Gold Dome. When controversial issues start dying on each side of the building, seasoned observers start speculating about back-room deals for the Senate to take the blame on this one, the House on that one.
But the tempers looked to be real this time.
In the days leading up to the finale, Geithner’s axiom came to mind. But with a local twist:
Conservatism is no substitute for a plan.
No political philosophy is, of course, but conservatism is the one that dominates this Legislature. Perhaps no other word is invoked more often by our Republican lawmakers, too often by way of explaining inaction.
Political philosophies should inform governing agendas, not excuse their absence.
If the measures that did pass seemed like a hodgepodge of disconnected, randomly chosen priorities, that’s because they were. In the absence of an energetic agenda from a governor who seemed content to play defense, or from House and Senate leaders who largely did the same, what passed for an agenda this year arose from back-benchers responding to persistent pressure groups.
Plan beats no plan.
The bigger items that might’ve filled out an agenda were all pushed, like the championship aspirations of Atlanta sports fans, to next year. If we follow the numerous pledges made, a policy version of murderers’ row awaits in 2015: comprehensive tax reform; an overhaul of the QBE education-funding formula; a path toward more transportation funding; pension reform.
The fact there are also leftovers from this year, those headline-grabbing if not exactly Herculean efforts that came up short, inspires precious little confidence the pledges will be fulfilled. Which would leave them for another election-year-shortened session in 2016.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Conservatives don’t lack ideas for moving forward. Think tanks have thought. Study committees have studied.
Now legislators must legislate.
That means campaigning on ideas this year — and, for the many lawmakers who face no opposition, getting a head start on vetting bills to implement those ideas.
Sound like a plan?
