We may be coming to a legislative wrap-up session where Kansans reassess just what a governor does for a living, and whether they like it.
So far, remember, we’ve got probably $200 million in revenues vs. expenses shortfall in the budget and besides some workmanlike but largely mechanical amendments to the budget made last week there isn’t much of a budget-balancing solution in sight.
Which raises the obvious question of just who is supposed to fix this fiscal mess?
Now, one might suggest that Gov. Sam Brownback, as the leader of the state, probably is a good person to start with: Some novel expense-cutting that for some reason nobody’s really thought of yet because, well, this is Kansas, and this is how we do things, always have and always will. There might just be something out there that the state is spending money on that isn’t necessary. Might be, but nobody has pointed to it yet.
Or, because the governor basically is required on a cold January evening to present to the Legislature a budget that on paper balances expenses with income, he has done his work. If the Legislature just passed his budget and the tax juggling that goes with it, it would be done and could leave the building.