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Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2007

What happened?

In his 2006 “State of the Commonwealth” speech, Gov. Fletcher confidently stated that Kentucky could “build more and better schools to prepare for an expanding workforce by repealing prevailing wage.”

Repealing prevailing wage would “give public universities and schools across our state effectively 6 to 12 percent more for each dollar they spend in construction,” he said.

However, by the time Fletcher gave his 2007 “State of the Commonwealth” address on Feb. 6, he offered a completely different solution: Keep Kentucky’s prevailing-wage law in place and spend even more money to repair dilapidated schools.

The governor not only abandoned his original proposal to repeal the prevailing-wage law, he asked for more funding to refurbish schools. Even if his request were granted, much of it would be wasted on paychecks made larger by unnecessary prevailing-wage mandates.

Fletcher’s economic logic has gone awry. First, he abandons his push to get rid of prevailing-wage requirements, which would free up more than $100 million that could be used to build new schools or fix dilapidated facilities. At the same time, he’s asking for more funding to repair crumbling schools, telling legislators in his “State of the Commonwealth” speech that the additional $50 million they placed in the current budget “helped, but clearly left many schools in need.”

What happened between Jan. 9, 2006 – when the governor pounded his bully pulpit while calling for the repeal of prevailing wage – and Feb. 6, 2007, when he didn’t even mention the issue in his annual speech?

Two things occurred:

Politics. Fletcher finds himself in a governor’s race with more hopefuls than compete on “American Idol.” How else can you account for the governor’s decision to turn tail on his previous prevailing-wage position, while also trying to arm-twist legislators who rightly don’t want to reopen the budget process during a nonbudget-legislative session?

Intimidation. Strident union backers heckled Fletcher during last year’s “State of the Commonwealth” address. These folks don’t much care for the governor’s previously stated support for making Kentucky a right-to-work state or repealing the prevailing-wage law – issues clearly not close to the heart of most labor bosses.

Apparently, their vocal assault drowned out the voices of Kentucky children forced to attend crowded and crumbling schools.

Contact the Bluegrass Institute, Kentucky's free-market think tank, at (270) 782-2140. Read past Shine the Light articles at www.bipps.org.

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