In many ways, running for president as governor of a state is easier than running from Washington. Senators are forced to take votes on all sorts of random hot-button issues, while governors are back in the states, making the trains run on time, and gaining executive experience.
But being a governor isn’t always easy, and it is interesting to observe how many of the Republican governors flirting with presidential bids could be impacted by the decisions of state legislatures — and looming budget problems — coming down the pike.
Consider what is facing Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal back home. As the New York Times writes, “Louisiana’s budget shortfall is projected to reach $1.6 billion next year and to remain in that ballpark for a while.” Meanwhile, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker also faces a budget problems. As the Washington Post recently reported,
The promised revenue from the Republican governor’s previous budget moves has not fully materialized, leading Walker and GOP lawmakers to propose another round of reductions — including cuts in funding for public schools, the university system, health-care programs and a slew of other programs. The Republican-controlled legislature says it won’t be raising taxes, no matter what, though it might increase fees for registering a car or visiting a state park. [Emphasis mine.]
Governors might have it easy when compared to U.S. Senators (who have to cast votes and go “on the record” on all sorts of random things), sometimes the rubber meets the road and the “buck stops here.” And sometimes, state legislatures intervene.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich — who increasingly looks like a presidential candidate — wanted to cut income taxes, and replace some of the lost revenue with other tax hikes, including a hike on cigarette taxes. Republicans who run the Ohio House balked at the plan, and it’s unclear how it will shake out.
Some are suggesting that Kasich’s presidential ambitions were behind the plan, but if so, he might want to rethink that. Raising taxes (even if accompanied by cuts leading to a net tax reduction) still opens him up to attacks as a “tax hiker” from the Right. Simultaneously, Kasich’s plan could be attacked from the Left as an attempt to make Ohio’s taxation more regressive. It turns out that having to make decisions is messy.
But it’s not just state legislatures who can make things messy for governors. Consider New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has attempted to cut spending. As Politico reported back in February, “A New Jersey judge ordered Gov. Chris Christie to reverse a $1.57 billion cut he made to New Jersey’s public pension system, sending the presidential contender scrambling to find new sources of revenue.”
So what do you do? You can use influence, you can sometimes use your veto pen. But, at the end of the day, governors don’t get to vote “yes” in committee and then “no” on the floor. Nor do they get to vote “present.” When state budgets have to balance, that sometimes requires cutting services and/or raising “fees.” And neither option, it turns out, is terribly popular.
