Big government strikes again. The appetite for more and more government grows like invasive weeds overtaking a once-thriving garden. Just look at the bloated budget requests flowing from state agencies requesting more mountains of cash for the next fiscal year.
Numerous agency directors are requesting spending increases of 10%, 20%, and even 30%, all sponsored by the taxpayer. This rush for money comes when government revenue has clearly peaked, and it’s anticipated that less money will be available this year compared to last.
Gentner Drummond, the Oklahoma Attorney General, wins the prize for the largest and most outlandish budget request. After a 65% increase in appropriations for the current fiscal year, Drummond has requested an astonishing 95% increase for an additional $90 million for the next fiscal year, as reported by the Tulsa World.
Governor Stitt has wisely called for “flat budgets across state government” and has assured policymakers that “to ensure prosperity for Oklahomans, we need to limit the growth of government.”
The Attorney General seems to have missed this message and also encountered a math problem that was just too hard to solve. Where do you find an extra $90 million when the state bank account has less than it did before?
During my time in the Oklahoma Senate as the Finance Chairman and then as the Secretary of Budget, I witnessed the government bureaucracy consume elected officials. Some agencies were plagued by this disease more than others. When will government officials learn that throwing money at their problems will not mend the bad outcomes created by bad policy?
While such tendencies might be expected from Democrats, it is particularly disheartening to see Republicans contribute to the expansion of bureaucracy. This is an unpleasant but not surprising development for Big Government Gentner, whose political ambitions are no secret.
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