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by Tim Skubick
May 8, 2009

Whenever there is money to spread around, watch the politicians in Lansing fall all over themselves to take credit. They’ll stage news conferences, cut ribbons until the cows come home and do whatever it takes to show you the good job they have done.

It helps them to get re-elected.

However, politicians sometimes dive for the high grass when it comes time to cut the budget. They sure as heck don’t want credit for that when the cuts decimate a service the citizens may demand. That could get them un-elected.

There was lots of hiding in that high grass recently for that very reason.

You’ve probably heard that the state budget is on life support. There’s a $1.3-billion deficit this year, and that figure was set before Chrysler went into bankruptcy.

The governor and lawmakers had no choice but to cut services, since they were not about to raise taxes. It was a painful process, but it’s been the long-standing tradition that the House and Senate budget committees take up the ugly task, make the cuts, balance the budget and then sit back and wait for the next deficit to pop up.

But this time out, there was a twist designed to insulate those same budget writers from any public criticism.

Key legislators did decide to slice $304 million from state programs, but they deferred part of the decision-making on where to cut to department directors. Hence, when it came time for the blame game, it would be the directors and not the lawmakers who got whacked by the public.

Pretty sneaky, hey?

All this is mighty disingenuous, especially on the part of legislative Republicans. They are the ones who constantly call for more cuts in state government. But the Rs are long on the bravado and short on the follow-through.

Two years ago when the governor and Democrats started talking about a tax hike, the legislative Republicans offered almost a billon dollars in cuts. But it was all for show. Everyone in town knew they were not serious but merely playing to their anti-government constituency.

Now with another sea of red ink at the beginning of the year, those same Republicans boasted they could soak up the ink by eliminating government spending. They stayed on message, but it was insincere this time, too.

Behind closed doors the Republicans lamented they really didn’t want to slash all of their pet projects. So in the end they passed the buck to the department directors, who would be the bad guys.

The GOP chair of the Senate budget committee denies that was going on. “I don’t agree,” counters Senator Ron Jelinek (Three Oaks.) He says the directors are the “experts” and lawmakers were merely trying to tap into that expertise.

Nonetheless, the governor saw through all this. And while she would not dare call the Republicans hypocrites, it would not be wrong if she did.

In fairness, Democrats were co-conspirators. True, they never said the budget could be balanced with cuts alone, but when it came time to take ownership of the cuts, they signed off on the pass-the-buck game as well.

Don’t look for any news conferences to announce that.

Tim Skubick is Michigan’s senior Capitol correspondent and has anchored the weekly public TV series “Off the Record” since 1972.

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Warning Shot on Auto Show

Heads up, new mayor of Detroit and city council. The Senate GOP leader says the clock is ticking on keeping the North American International Auto Show at Cobo Hall.

Oakland County Senator Mike Bishop reveals that he has ordered legislation to facilitate moving the show from Detroit to, perhaps, Novi.

“There will be legislation, absolutely, being prepared as we speak, to provide an alternative location, and one of those is Novi,” Bishop reveals for the first time.

If newly elected Mayor Dave Bing comes to Lansing asking for a re-do on the original Cobo deal that was rejected by the Detroit City Council, Bishop will tell him: “We already had that vote.”

The GOP leader did not reveal the contents of the legislation, but he says Detroit has very little time to take a reconsideration vote on the plan that was rejected.

“The folks on the city council of Detroit have to know that they’ve got to take advantage of the situation they’re in right now. If they don’t, the State of Michigan has got to move forward.”

Bishop warns, “We’re moving now.”

Asked how much time Detroit had to take the new vote, he concludes they need to “reconsider immediately.”

The Capitol is Over There

A word of advice for the newly elected mayor of Detroit when he makes his eventual trek to visit state lawmakers here: Mr. Bing, the Capitol is the building with the huge white dome.

Which is to say the former NBA star will be a newcomer to the Lansing scene — and that may be both a plus and a minus.

A self-professed non-politician, Bing enters a world of professional politicians where he is basically an unknown quantity. Professional pols are uncomfortable with that.

Oh sure, many in this town know that Bing has great ties to the business community, and they know about his sports prowess, but that’s about it.

No one even knows if Bing has bounced into the Capitol building before. If he did, he sneaked in the back door and left the same way.

Lawmakers like to have a “comfort” level with the folks they deal with. Can the person be trusted? Does he or she have an ego that surpasses everyone else? Does he or she know how to work a deal?

Mr. Bing is smart enough to know he has to nurture that comfort level, but it doesn’t happen overnight. You don’t show up on the Capitol steps and announce “Here I am” and expect lawmakers to give you everything you want…especially if you hail from the Motor City

On one hand, having a clean slate allows Bing to start from scratch with official Lansing. He carries none of the political baggage associated with being a part of Detroit city government. He was not there when all the shenanigans were unfolding, which is part of the reason the voters in Motown voted him in.

On the other, there are certain ways to play the political game and, as a rookie, that opens him up to make some mistakes. If those are bad enough, that can hurt him for the rest of his tenure.

An initial test of his “understanding” of Lansing will be the length of time he waits before entering this court of play.

Somebody will probably whisper in his ear, “sooner is much better than latter.” Let’s see if he listens.