Cooking the Books
When state and federal lawmakers cook the books -- a long, time-honored, and bipartisan approach to solving budget differences -- it rarely makes the news.
However, a recent effort by Cook County Board Republicans and a handful of Democrats to inflate revenue projections to meet their spending whims spilled out on to the pages of the Sun-Times today, leading to this crystalizing quote from Commissioner Mike Quigley:
How can the state prevent politics from entering into future revenue projections?
"It's like if my wife and I go to the bank and say, 'We're revising our income for next year so we can buy a new car,'" Commissioner Mike Quigley said.
13 comments:
Did you actually read the whole article?
Both estimates were low last year by several million.
Yellow Dog: How do you know that it’s not a case of Brown and Pappas aren’t sandbagging their projections for political reasons? After all, it does make them look pretty good if they keep coming in over projection doesn’t it?
And, to you closing question, are you saying that politics hasn’t already entered into future revenue projections?
Anonymous 1:30,
Did you actually read the article?
Here's what Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown said about the attempt to raise her office's revenue projections:
But Brown said the 2005 increase was unique, as projections were almost on target in 2004 and 2003.
Brown said "it would be unfair to overproject our revenue" for 2006, as it could cause "the county to be in a deficit position" if it doesn't meet those higher levels.
Interesting to note that all the five Republicans on the County Board support cooking the books. I guess the fiscal-trainwreck ethos of the national GOP has finally trickled down to the local level.
insider,
You and YDD are right that overprojecting is not good. But how do you know for sure that Brown and Pappas's projections are correct? They weren't last year. Brown says the 2005 increase was unique - but she doesn't explain why.
I don't think there is nearly enough info available in that Sun Times article to conclude if the requested revision is warranted or not. I'd for one like to find out why the 2005 increase happened, and why Brown thinks it was an isolated incident......don't you?
What, exactly, do the GOP Board members in question have to gain by seeking an overprojection? The county is going to spend the same amount either way. But more money from the Clerk's office means more justification for holding the line on, or even rolling back property taxes...something that most Cook County residents could appreciate. Conversely, if Brown comes in over projection again, that money will no doubt get gobbled by the county bureaucracy. If Brown is sandbagging her projections to look better at the expense of your property taxes, wouldn't you like to know that?
It could be that what these GOP Board members are doing is “starving the beast” and trying to get a better deal for Cook County taxpayers. If that’s the case, great job guys!!
g.o.p.,
You might find that readers take your comments more seriously if they aren't internally contradictory.
First, you claim there isn't enough evidence "to conclude if the requested revision is warranted or not," moments before you charge, without the slightest bit of evidence, 1) that most Cook County residents would choose rolling back property taxes over hiring the jail guards demanded by the federal judge, continuing support for health care for the poor, or paying for any of the other services provided by the county; and 2) that any excess revenue will be "gobbled by the county bureaucracy," which suggests you are unfamiliar with the most basic rules of government accounting (i.e. money isn't just dumped into a big trough where departments come to "gobble" it up--that analogy would be more apt for the GOP slush funds set up and administered by Jack Abramoff). So what is it--is it ok to opine without evidence or not?
Also, what a huge surprise to see you using the "starve the beast" phraseology without the slightest embarrassment, even though it's a favorite of GOP overlord Grover Norquist, who is also famous for referring to bipartisanship as "date rape," comparing the estate tax to the Holocaust, and his close ties to suspected Islamic terror groups. Not to mention its meaning, which is that government should be shrunk so small that the remainder can "be drowned in a bathtub" (another lovely Norquist quote)--i.e. government will provide virtually no services so that taxes can be reduced to negligible levels (at least for the rich--GOP policies to date suggest that Republicans see nothing wrong with the poor shouldering a higher tax burden as a percentage of income than the rich, even though most of their income goes to necessities rather than luxuries).
To your point itself, I'm sure once the "beast" of county government is starved, the tens or hundreds of thousands of county residents who currently depend on county health care because they have no other options will be thrilled to sign up for that favorite GOP sham solution, medical savings accounts.
What the County Board needs are more fiscally responsible Dems like Quigley, Claypool, and Suffredin. Not to mention some fiscally responsible Republicans.
insider,
get a grip. If the phrase is too crude for you, I apologize. But Norquist hardly has the copywrite on it. But thanks for trying to associate me with some of his nuttier quotes! I actually always associated the phrase “starve the beast” – for whatever reason – with the man who said: “There you go again…..”
And, indeed, there you go again. I didn't say we should completely de-fund or disassemble county government. STOP PROJECTING YOUR IDEAS OF WHAT I BELIEVE ONTO ME!!! Restrain yourself to only attacking me for what I have said. Not all Republicans agree on every issue, tactic, or piece of rhetoric. How would you like to be automatically associated with EVERYTHING Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Michael Moore, or MoveOn.org said or wrote. You probably wouldn’t like it….so stop doing the same thing to conservatives and Republicans!!!
To get back to the point, I think the County has LOTS of unneeded expenses. Ask me to list them if you really care to know, or go ahead assuming that you can read my mind….it’s up to you.
GOP -
I'm willing to bet that the spike Brown saw had something to do with the record number of bankruptcy filings last year, a unique event linked to a massive change in bakruptcy laws. The Circuit Clerk collects court fees with every filing.
Regardless, it's Brown's job to make the projections, her office has the expertise; the County board members have nothing better than a hunch or a hope that there will be more revenue -- heck, why stop at $4 million? Why not $10 million or $20 million?
Quigley's quote is precisely on target.
BTW GOP, the Republicans on the county board aren't starving the beast at all, they are doing everything they can to avoid the tough choices of eliminating $8 million in wasteful spending somewhere else in the budget. In other words, they want to feed the beast, not starve it.
Maybe you should send your list of potential cuts to them?
g.o.p.,
Wow, someone's got a short fuse. And please, don't even start with the woe-is-me, "how would you like it if you were linked to Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Michael Moore, or MoveOn.org all the time" line. First of all, I would be PROUD of that linkage--they've only been proven right about Iraq and the Bush administration time after time after time. Secondly, where's the outrage when your GOP pals are smearing Democrats and liberals on this blog? Where's the outrage about the eliminationist rhetoric spewed by Ann Coulter and her fellow bottom-feeders? Spare me the pat lecture and pearl-clutching.
As Adlai Stevenson said, "I have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my Republican friends...that if they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them."
You belong to a party controlled by extremists wreaking extensive damage on the economy, environment, social fabric, and international standing of this nation. Sorry if you don't like hearing the ugly truth.
Insider,
I’m sorry I lost my cool, but I was posting right after responding to some rather personally insulting and infuriating comments against me on the previous thread. Looking back, I am embarrassed that, as you said, my fuse got a little short. I was also both embarrassed that I used a phrase whose etymology I was not fully aware of, and then upset that even after I apologized for it and replaced it in the post I was still accused of lying about not knowing it was potentially offensive (if we all can’t give each other the benefit of the doubt and move on once in a while, what’s the point of even trying to have a debate on here?)
But I don’t think it’s a “woe-is-me” thing. I used one quote, that is a rather common expression in political rhetoric, and I was suddenly associated with calling bipartisanship date rape, the estate tax the Holocaust, and drowning things in a bathtub.
Have you ever seen the West Wing episode where Sam wanted to use the term “permanent revolution” to describe the administration’s plan to improve education? It was considered unfortunate that he couldn’t, since the quote is associated with communism, even though the root sentiment was appropriate. I think that County Government is a lumbering “beast,” if you will, full of patronage, ghost pay rollers, and LOTS of unnecessary expenses. We’ll never remove those excesses unless there is only enough money to fund either those or the legitimate functions of County Government. You can disagree with that point if you want, but I’d please ask not to be associated with everything Norquist has ever said simply because I used one phrase that he (but not he exclusively) has been known to use.
And the reference to Pelosi, Dean, and Moore was by way of saying that I’d hope that you wouldn’t want to be associated with everything that every Democrat and/or liberal has every said. As I asked skeeter on the previous thread, where is your moral outrage over Democrats in Maryland throwing Oreos at Michael Steele? Or at Harry Bellefonte for his ugly remarks about Condi Rice or Colin Powell. I’d hope, and assume, that you don’t want to be associated with that. But since you only seem outraged when the insults are against Democrats, why should I not give you a taste of your own medicine? Who are you to attack me for being such a partisan?
If I’ve been testy the last few days of commenting, it’s because I try very hard (with rare, unfortunate lapses) to not project my frustration with the entire Democratic Party onto each individual (see my many cordial exchanges with Yellow Dog Democrat), and I simply ask that people not attack me personally for everything they don’t like about every member of the Republican Party. I have certainly not received that courtesy from you and many others in the last few days. I am a partisan, to be sure. But at least I admit it. And I have and will continue to knock my own guys, perhaps not every time it may be, but when I feel it’s warranted. One of the reasons I respect and enjoy debating Yellow Dog is because he does the same. He is willing to acknowledge Democratic shortcomings and never projects his dislike of every member of the Republican Party onto me personally. I’m not sure if you and the skeeter are Democrats or just anti-conservative/Bush/Republican, but you don’t seem to be willing to acknowledge any faults or legitimate criticisms of Democrats, and I think that makes you much more of a partisan than you deride me for being.
Bottom line, I don’t like being attacked by people who are guilty of the same thing for which they are attacking me (there’s a word for that). You only seem outraged by hypocrisy and outrageous comments by Republicans. I only seem (at least to you) outraged by the same by Democrats. Neither one of us is better than the other on this issue. And while all I’ve tried to do is defend myself and try to make my point, you’ve tried to slander me through association with every nutty thing a conservative has ever said. Can you understand why I would blow a fuse?
YDD, nice try on the spin. But there's some added information that the Sun-Times didn't cover, and probably doesn't even know about.
First off, there's a real battle brewing over the Cook County budget (no news there), but the interesting point is how they 'closed' this year's budget hole with the proposed budet.
They basically busted the chops of all the department heads (both elected and appointed) and used all the unreserved fund balances to close the gap (and it was a sizable hole).
"Unreserved fund balances" normally consists of items such as (a) Money budgeted, but not expened; and (b) Unbudgeted revenues.
So, with last year's revenues being higher than the actual revenue projections (for at least the 2 offices), the end result is "found money" which can be used to close this year's budget gap. Nice little way of gaming the system (from last year to this year).
Also, for this budget year the Administration (John Stroger & buddies) really put the fiscal blocks to a number of the different Cook County elected officials. They took some serious budget hits (unplanned cuts, and big numbers to boot), and according to what I was told, the Treasurer's office (Maria Pappas) really took it in the shorts this time around. Story is she's not a happy camper right about now over the budget.
It's a time honored tradition (and it's not a Democrat/Republican issue) that you don't screw over either the assessor or treasurer on money, because they will get you back. Best way I know for the Treasurer to express his/her "unhappiness" over budget/money matters is to 'adjust' those revenue numbers. Then at the end of the year, it's "Suprise!".
It's certainly political, and honestly it's a whole lot meaner fight, it's just not partisan political.
"How can the state prevent politics from entering into future revenue projections?"
Now that's seriously funny. Like you really want the State of Illinois to sit in judgement on this issue? I'd rather have Enron reviewing the numbers than the State of Illinois.
See, g.o.p., I can't take you seriously when you say things like this:
As I asked skeeter on the previous thread, where is your moral outrage over Democrats in Maryland throwing Oreos at Michael Steele?
As there is no convincing evidence that such an incident ever occurred, why should I be outraged about it?
This really goes to the crux of my problem with the GOP. I can't respect a party that relies so heavily on deception to make its case, and it is difficult to respect people who support the party, and by extension, these tactics. Do Democrats bend the truth to make points? Of course. Do they outright lie at times? Some do, probably, and THAT IS WRONG. I expect some spinning from both parties, but I also expect a basic respect for the truth and fair play. But this administration and this Congress have truly crossed the line into raging bullsh**tery, just making stuff up as they go along, and fair play? Please. Go read this and then come back here and say with a straight face that the GOP plays fair. And don't even get me started about a president who appears to believe he is above the law. For the record, YES, I would have been outraged if Clinton had attempted to claim the powers Bush has claimed, and no, there is no credible evidence to date that I've seen to suggest that Clinton did anything remotely similar.
I apologize for going too far in my comments and I will try to rein myself in in the future, but I will not yield in my belief that the Republican Party and the messianic conservatives in charge of it nationally are driving this nation towards ruin.
Insider,
I appreciate your apology.
As I said on the previous thread, I did not know that the story had come under dispute. As the article you cited notes, many papers – including The Chicago Sun-Times – reported “as fact…some version of the incident over the years.” I am not an avid reader of the Baltimore Sun, so I never saw the article calling into question the veracity of the story. In light of this, I will not cite that story again.
I think you’re kind of pushing it to say that the use of a story that has been widely reported as fact by MANY credible news sources is in itself evidence of pervasive usage of “deception” by the GOP in political debates. YOu’re going to need more than that to back up a claim that “this administration and this Congress have truly crossed the line into raging bullsh**tery.”
I’ll admit that I haven’t, and probably won’t, read the NYT article you linked. Perhaps it’s because I am still smarting from being burned by the Chicago Sun-Times, but I’m a little skeptical about what I read in the papers these days.
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