Blanco: Mama says you better be careful or you're going to lose your project
by Robert Travis Scott - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

BATON ROUGE -- With two days left in the legislative session and more than $32 billion in spending measures packed away, Gov. Kathleen Blanco is holding fast to her conviction that lawmakers should not pass tax cuts totaling more than about $180 million for next year.

It is the last major money battle of a session that has dealt with record sums of state revenue.

Various tax cuts strewn among several bills are awaiting final action. If all passed, their combined impact would near $1 billion. But the spending bills have already passed, and by law the state budget for next year must be balanced.

Blanco issued a strong warning to the Legislature on Tuesday to send her a package of tax breaks that will keep the budget in balance or else she will cut programs championed by lawmakers who have insisted on the tax cuts.

"And so tax cut proponents are in that mode. I think they're like a bunch of spoiled children, and we're on vacation, kind of, and they think mom and daddy can buy them every single toy and balloon in the whole place. And, you know, parents have to say no after a time."

When asked how the mom should deal with tax cuts that exceed her threshold, Blanco said, "Mama says you better be careful or you're going to lose your project."

"She's not my mama, and she's not my constituent," said Rep. Jim Tucker, R-Algiers, who heads the Republican House delegation. "The people of this state deserve some of those dollars back. I believe if she doesn't come off this $180 million limit, she will be facing a veto override."

He said Blanco and her allies in the Legislature have been spending like "drunk sailors" while accepting tax cuts that would amount to less than one-half of 1 percent of the total state spending amount.

CARTOON BY REVOLUTIONARY RASCAL