Dunleavy isn't serious about his so-called fiscal plan

The pieces of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s so-called fiscal plan that he revealed Friday are not the work of a governor who is serious about a fiscal plan, which is in keeping with his dismal track record on these matters since he took office seven years ago.

On Friday, Dunleavy introduced a bill that says after he is gone from office state spending should be allowed to grow at no more than 1 percent per year, regardless of the rate of inflation and regardless of changes in population.

One percent would likely be less than the rate of inflation, so Dunleavy is saying that state spending will decline every year from here to eternity once he is out of the picture.

This means that state employees will get paid less every year, education funding will decline every year, the cost of supplies needed for state government will decline every year, and the cost of state contracts will decline every year. Road maintenance will decline every year, state services of all kinds will decline every year and everything will take longer than it does now.

If the gas pipeline gets built and there is a big increase in the demand for state services, the spending limit remains at 1 percent.

This is what Dunleavy means by fiscal certainty. The only certainty is that it won’t pass.

A scheme like this that appeals to people who are ignorant about state government will be rejected by the Legislature, as it should.

Dunleavy claims that the existing law, which limits increases to five percent plus population and inflation, is not “disciplined” enough for those who will follow him in state government.

The Dunleavy bill would take the form of a state law that the Legislature and governor could follow or not. A serious governor would have made the case, if there is one, with research and logic.

The other item introduced by Dunleavy is a constitutional amendment to treat the money in the Permanent Fund as one account and limit withdrawals to five percent of the total, half of which must be paid in dividends.

A constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate to be forwarded to the ballot for voter approval.

This amendment is not going to pass. It should not pass. Dunleavy has failed to show what taxes he supports to pay the bills for state government. He’s all about promising big dividends, without dealing with the tough topic of the overall budget.

Dunleavy’s alleged tax proposals are still secret, which is a public relations blunder, unless of course the idea is to get nothing approved this year.

Dunleavy has increased the chances of that happening by failing to engage with the public on taxes and why they are needed, claiming for years that we needed no new or increased taxes.

If he was serious about any of this, he would have done a great deal more work to sell the plan and show his math. But he’s not serious.

I’m starting to think that the Dunleavy state-paid leaflet of his accomplishments could be a one-pager.

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