Harrison: State facing leadership problem, not fiscal one

LETTER: Raise the state’s tobacco tax
April 10, 2013
Letters: Use tax refunds wisely
April 10, 2013
LETTER: Raise the state’s tobacco tax
April 10, 2013
Letters: Use tax refunds wisely
April 10, 2013

Dear Editor,


What we have is not a fiscal problem but rather a leadership problem.


As we begin the 2013 Regular Legislative Session, we will once again grapple with deep and difficult issues relating to the financial woes of our state. We face dire cuts to our universities, our hospitals and our schools yet are offered no real solutions by the governor. Citizens everywhere now feel like they are in an environment where they have to worry more about what their state is doing to them rather than for them. What we have here is a deficit of leadership, more than a deficit of finances and it is my intent to address both in the upcoming session. Consider this:

• Our state grants some $6 BILLION in tax exemptions, many to out-of-state companies who have no accountability to ensure that the basis of the exemptions, such as jobs creation, are ever delivered. That’s money straight out of the taxpayer’s pockets that could go to funding services now set to be cut.


• Monies from so called “gaming” do not flow to education in the amounts promised despite an overwhelming understanding among the people that the vote for gaming was specifically to fund education. It is my intent to fight to redirect monies to what the people voted for with the goal of eliminating this cycle of budget shortages in education.

• We deeply fund a bloated and redundant bureaucracy influenced by highly paid consultants with ties to the administration that is not the subject of cuts while we operate under a state constitution that forces us to cut critical services in higher education and healthcare. It is my intent to call for a constitutional convention to address such inequities and misguided requirements.

The problems we face are grave but with courage, creativity, planning and leadership, there is nothing that we cannot overcome. Please join me and my colleagues of Fiscal Hawks as we work to support real change through real leadership this legislative session.

Rep. Joe Harrison,

District 51, R-Gray