Poor job performance

Imagine you were just hired to run a large company.

The company had just completed an amazing $500 million turnaround and is now making a very healthy profit - when two years ago they were $200 million dollars in the red.

You were hired for two express purposes. 1) Keep the company profitable, 2) Solve the company's only major remaining problem: overhaul the outdated system that is used to train workers.

If by the end of your contract you failed to overhaul the training system, and spent all of the company's money without a coherent plan for the future - your fate would be sealed in the business world.

Unfortunately for the State of Montana, government doesn't work that way. This year Democrats, led by Gov. Brian Schweitzer, took the reins of state government with $300 million in the bank and one major problem to solve - overhauling the state's outdated and unconstitutional education system.

Regrettably, here we sit at the end of the first Democrat controlled legislative session in a decade - out of money, and no education solution.

Don't get me wrong; the Democrats didn't just sit on their hands during their time in Helena, though it would have been better if they had.

They sponsored over a dozen tax increases on everything from soda pop and alcohol to Wal-Mart and family homes.

The Democrats attempted to undue the recently passed marriage amendment and unleashed a torrid assault on Montana's home schools.

They raised the price of gas through fuel mandates, and they increased the cost of energy by demanding the use of 'green' power with no regard to affordability.

While the Democrat's haphazard agenda and its aftermath are troubling, my major complaint is that the people of Montana gave them two jobs: Fix the school funding problem, and keep the economy growing; and they had an extra $300 million to boot.

Yet we will adjourn the 59th legislature early having failed at both.

It's now been more than a year since Helena District Judge Jeffrey Sherlock ruled the current system of school funding unconstitutional.

Since that day, Democrats rallied their big-dollar lobbyists in the education industrial complex and successfully campaigned on the false promise of fixing our defunct educational system and taking better care of our school children. Months of big talk have resulted in nothing more than a promise to study the issue for the next 6 months and reconvene in a special session at the cost of millions of taxpayer's dollars. Worse yet, they have continued to dump over $70 million dollars into a flawed and unconstitutional education funding formula. Democrats lacked the leadership and the will to implement a solution.

The Democrats only other real task was simple: don't derail the economy. When Democrats took over, unemployment was hovering just above 4 percent and Montana had one of the fastest growing economies in the nation. In addition, our personal income growth has been outstanding over the last few years, usually in the top 10 in the nation.

Under Republican control Montana had recently reduced the top income tax bracket from 11 percent down to 6.9 percent, allowing more Montana families to keep the money they earn and buy the things they need to provide for their families. In addition, the state was finally beginning to foster a business friendly environment. The business equipment tax had been reduced to 3 percent and would be phased out when the requirements for economic growth were met. This is a key obstacle for businesses, farms and ranches that want to run better equipment and make their operations more efficient or provide additional services.

However, Democrats found that course of action to be flawed. They proposed tax increase after tax increase, some of which garnered the support of our new 'business friendly' Governor Schweitzer. These proposals sought to make criminals of honest businessmen, raise taxes on Montana's most successful businesses and pass a permanent income tax hike on Montana wage earners. In addition, the Democrats opposed property tax reform, and income tax rebate, and the elimination of a burdensome business tax that would have created thousands of jobs.

Though we were not in control, Republicans did what we could to stick up for Montana businesses and families - killing most of the Democrat's proposals on a party line vote. Over the last decade of Republican control, we did our best to run the state of Montana like a business. We followed a proven formula for success; control government growth, keep taxes low, and create a business friendly regulatory environment.

We know that bold leadership and wisdom are necessary for a successful legislative session. If Democrats had either, they would have offered up a solution to solve Montana's major problems instead of putting it off for a special session sometime in the future.