As Gov. Jim Douglas' news conference ended Thursday afternoon, Rep. Martha Heath marched up to the governor with flames shooting from her eyes.
The House Appropriations Committee chairwoman had been listening to the news conference and was angry that he had said that the Legislature's staff had come up with the list of possible budget cuts.
No, she told the governor, it was a joint effort between Douglas' fiscal staff and the Legislature's fiscal staff.
Douglas was not terribly apologetic. He corrected his comment for the benefit of the two or three people within listening distance. He did nothing to douse the flames shooting from Heath's eyes.
The significance of the comments?
The legislative and the administrative staffs had quite intentionally shared compilation of the list to share the blame (and the credit) for the ideas. Heath had spent the last few days getting hammered by her fellow legislators and advocates outraged that some certain item was on the list. She explained to her caucus the day before that it was merely a list of possibilities from both branches. Douglas was, in her view, selling her up the river.
It may have been inadvertent on his part - he would be less attuned to the delicate balance of whose list it was than those doing the actual negotiations. But he seemed to kind of enjoy doing it.
- Terri Hallenbeck
