Statewide elected officials believe the Jindal administration’s budget ax must have become dull from overuse, since the latest round of proposed cuts are far from even.
“The cuts seem to be disproportionate,” Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne observes.
In this second round of proposed mid-year budget cuts, Dardenne would have more than $3 million lopped off his tourism budget. The Secretary of State’s office is being cut by almost $1 million, the Insurance Commissioner by $1.4 million, the Treasurer by half a million dollars, and the Agriculture Department by more than $2 million.
Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain says these cuts don’t add up fairly.
“All the statewide elected officials together are less than one percent of the budget, but the statewide officials are taking 16 percent of the hard-dollar budget cuts,” Strain says.
He believes that violates the state constitution.
“The constitution allows the governor to cut up to three percent,” Strain explains. “And he can cut up to five percent with the approval of the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget.”
Dardenne says this time it certainly seems that all the statewide are facing the budget guillotine, at the same time Governor Jindal’s office is barely nicked.
“It doesn’t seem fair when you look at the executive budget—the governor’s office. They’re only taking a ten-thousand dollar cut,” a frustrated Dardenne says. For in his case, it’s not the first time he’s been told to — figuratively — fall on his sword.
"Certainly it seems to me that I’ve been hit — I’ve been targeted — over the years in this administration,” Dardenne reflects. “I’ve had more of a strained relationship with the governor than any of the other statewides.”
The Lt. Governor and the other statewide are lobbying members of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, urging them to spread the cuts around a bit more, making them more proportional to overall budget allocations, and putting them back in line with what the state constitution says.
“I think it was meant to be more fair and more equitable across the board,” Strain says.
The Joint Budget Committee meets to consider the mid-year cuts on Feb. 20.