But Bredesen’s Past Big Spending Laid Foundation of Current Fiscal Mess

NASHVILLE, TN – The Tennessee Republican Party today welcomed Gov. Bredesen’s newfound fiscal restraint and laments that his previous spending practices have put Tennessee into a financial hole that can only be solved by getting rid of thousands of state employees.

Six years ago during the last state budget crisis Republican lawmakers battling against the income tax being pushed by Democrat House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh and Democrat Senate Majority Leader Bob Rochelle proposed a budget that contained no new spending, no spending cuts, no new taxes and no layoffs.

Democrats howled and called that budget ‘Draconian,’” and worse, and said it would destroy state government. Monday night, Democrats praised a Democrat governor who is proposing a budget that is worse on every front: It cuts spending on vital programs such as higher education, raises taxes and results in more than 2,000 state employees losing their jobs.

“Gov. Bredesen came into office promising to fix the state’s finances, and promptly pushed the accelerator on spending,” said Bill Hobbs, communications director for the Tennessee Republican Party. Under Bredesen, the state budget has grown an average of $1.36 billion per year. “The sluggish economy is forcing Bredesen to tap the brakes a bit, but he’s responding the way Democrats often do: by proposing tax increases.”

The governor said in his speech Monday night that Tennesseans expect government to live within its means, and that tax increases were not the solution to the budget mess. And yet, in additional to getting rid of more than 2,000 state employees, Bredesen is pushing legislation to raise taxes by $15 million on certain family-owned real estate businesses, to tax digital music downloads and add new taxes on gym memberships and complimentary hotel breakfasts. In all, the administration is proposing to raise taxes on Tennesseans by an estimated $27 million to $30 million per year.

Gov. Bredesen said buyouts would be offered only to employees whose department head “has committed to a permanent reduction.” But even after the buyouts and layoffs, state government will still have more than 3,000 more employees than it did when Gov. Bredesen took office. “Buyouts targeting non-essential personnel is a better way to reduce the payroll than across-the-board layoffs,” Hobbs said, “but if Gov. Bredesen had not unnecessarily expanded the state payroll by more than 5,000 people in the last six years, these job cuts wouldn’t be necessary now.”