Negotiation skills needed in Legislature

By Iowa City Press-Citizen

Recently, while on the Iowa Public Television program “Iowa Press,” Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, seemed fairly confident that he and House Majority Leader Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, eventually would find a way to hammer out a workable budget.

“So, obviously, this session people have strong feelings in both parties, and there's going to be some real battles about what they think is important,” Gronstal said. “But I just gently say Speaker Paulsen and I are smarter than they are in Washington, D.C. We're going to figure out a way to govern. We're going to look for common ground. We're going to set the things that we disagree with aside, and we're going to find a way to govern.”

Paulsen was far more modest in his reply, but he too said he was “very satisfied with the dialogue taking place. It's been slower probably than any of us like, but I think we're laying proper foundation so that we can find a way to make the decisions that have to be made as we move through the next several weeks.”

A full two months later - with the Legislature having moved into overtime and with the governor threatening to veto anything other than a two-year budget - those statements ring hollow with false optimism. Rather than prove that they “are smarter than they are in Washington, D.C.,” Gronstal, Paulsen and Gov. Terry Branstad seem just as divided as their federal counterparts do. (There's even concerns about a never before seen option for Iowa: a government shutdown.)

Recently, Gronstal and Paulsen sent their respective parties' rank-and-file members home so that they and other state leaders could brainstorm on the next steps. We're still waiting for the full results of those behind-closed-doors discussions because, although the Legislature remains in session, no debate is planned and there are no budget negotiations scheduled.

We don't think it really makes a difference whether Iowa operates under a one-year budget or if it goes back to operating under a two-year budget. Branstad is right to ask for more transparent accounting and to limit the number of gimmicks and tricks through which the Legislation can obscure how much money actually is being spent each year. But returning to a two-year budget won't automatically end such practices, nor are any future benefits to the change worth problems and uncertainty that Branstad is encouraging with his line-in-the-sand veto threats.

It's time for the governor and legislative leaders to stop this power squabble and “find a way to govern.”

As Iowans, we expect our state leaders to really be “smarter than they are in Washington, D.C.” Now we need them to prove they really are.