Branstad seeks budget reforms, comes under fire

DES MOINES – Former Gov. Terry Branstad called Monday for reforming the state's budgeting process – a call that drew rebukes from both sides of the political aisle pointing to his past fiscal practices.

Branstad, who served as governor for four terms from 1983-99, proposed going to a biennial budgeting process for state government to half what he called the current practice of “playing shell games with taxpayer dollars.”

The former governor, who is seeking the 2010 GOP gubernatorial nomination, also called for implementing a five-year financial plan for state government during a speech to students and faculty at Southeast Webster-Grand High School.

“This coming from the guy who literally used to keep two sets of books and took nothing but criticism from the previous Republican state auditor?” asked Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs.

Meanwhile, Bob Vander Plaats of Sioux City, another GOP gubernatorial hopeful, said he agreed with some of Branstad's proposals, but asked “why didn't Terry Branstad implement these good-budgeting practices during his first four-year term or his second or his third or his fourth? And why should Iowans expect that he will put them into practice in the future if he failed to do so in the past?”

Branstad's proposals are a throwback to his former time as Iowa chief executive, when his calls to replace yearly state budgets with a biennial budgeting process failed to muster legislative support.

“It is time to stop playing shell games with taxpayer dollars, stop erratic budget fixes and start talking honestly about the state's finances,” Branstad said in a statement issued by his campaign. “This proposal will end bad budget practices and again bring fiscal responsibility to the state.”

He called for ending bad budget practices, such as using one-time money to pay for ongoing expenses, diverting funds authorized for a specific objective to other purposes, and shifting program costs to property taxes or fees.

The former governor called for adopting a budget plan at the start of a new General Assembly that would fund state government for the next two fiscal years. That would allow the governor and Legislature to focus on policy development and to exercise oversight of government operations. He also proposed that the governor and lawmakers develop and implement a five-year financial plan for state government that would be updated annually to reflect the long-term costs of spending and revenue decisions.

Gronstal said biennial budgeting has never gotten legislative traction in Iowa because “every state that does it finds out it doesn't work. They pass a two-year budget and then come in in the second year and make massive changes to the two-year budget,” he said.

Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Michael Kiernan said the announcement was evidence the Branstad campaign has “truly divorced itself from reality” by talking about fiscal responsibility and shell games given his budgetary track record.

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