Interview: Branstad taking hard line on budget negotiations

DES MOINES – Gov. Terry Branstad said Wednesday he is holding firm to a “clear mandate” from voters to clean up the state's financial mess.

The GOP governor is taking a hard line during this year's negotiations with lawmakers in adhering to “honest” budgeting principles, saying he's dealt with crisis situations before and the threat of a state government shutdown in July will not be an effective tool in forcing concessions if that's what Democrats wrongly expect. However, he said he does not believe it will come to that, even though progress has stalled and activity has gone dormant for the split-control Legislature.

In taking the rare action of ousting a sitting governor for the first time since 1962, Branstad said Iowa voters last fall validated his call for adopting a two-year state budget with a five-year strategic plan that would not spend more revenue than the state collects and would end budgetary “cheating” that bent spending limitations, used one-time money to fund ongoing programs and purposefully underfunded things like Medicaid and indigent defense.

“I feel that I've got a clear mandate to do that,” Branstad said in an interview. “That's not to say that I can't work things out and recognize that they have some priorities that need to be worked with as well, and we're certainly ready and willing to do that and have had discussions with them on that.”

At the same time, Branstad said he faces a hard sell in convincing lawmakers who hold the power of the purse that things need to change dramatically given the recent track record of avoiding tough decisions. He likened the current impasse to a tough 1992 session that resulted in budget reforms that held spending in check for more than a decade.

“But then they just started step, by step, by step to do what I call cheating on what were effective spending reforms as long as you had a governor that enforced them,” Branstad said. “The sheriff's back in town, you know. I'm here to enforce them.”

What's complicated this year's negotiations is that majority Senate Democrats want to spend more than the level agreed to by Branstad and Republicans who control the House, he noted. Areas where the governor could reach compromise with Senate Democrats wouldn't be agreeable to House Republicans, and vice versa, he said.

“This is what's made it difficult – we're going to have an honest budget. We're not going to have the political games that have been played here for the last decade done, and I think that's really taken some power away from some people,” Branstad said. “I think the people of Iowa knew that I was dealt a tough hand and we're doing the best we can with the reality of what we have. I have no problem going to the people with that.”

The session impasse is becoming a bit of a public relations battle with Branstad slating town meetings next week, while legislative Democrats are making similar appeals and urging Iowans to call Branstad in support of providing more money for education and other priorities given the state's surplus position.

Branstad said he believes the GOP legislators who took control of the House by a 60-40 margin and narrowed the Democrats' Senate edge to 26-24 came to the Capitol “with a mission” from voters to rein in government excesses “and if we were to ignore that like the Republicans in Congress did years ago, then we would deserve being punished.”

The governor, who is in the first year of his fifth term, said Senate Democrats are clinging to a false hope if they believe riding out the clock on the current fiscal year and forcing a July 1 government shutdown will produce movement or concessions.

“If they think they can blame me because they wouldn't pass a budget, they are dead wrong,” he said. “I've submitted a budget. I've laid out very clearly and in very understandable terms what's expected and I've been willing to negotiate on the details of it with them. So, it's time to really make the tough decisions,” Branstad said.

“The governor has certain emergency powers, so if the Legislature fails to perform its responsibility of passing a budget, there are certain things that we can do using emergency powers. It shouldn't come to that. I mean, the Legislature still has plenty of time to resolve things,” he added. “We're well positioned to get something significant accomplished and I think when they finally get serious about it, it can get accomplished in a relatively short period of time. We're ready and willing to. We have been meeting with them, but if they just want to play politics as opposed to trying to resolve the issues, it's going to take awhile.”