Line-Item Veto

By Tom Campbell

Until other reforms are made, the Governor should exercise the line-item veto to cut expenditures down to the level of realistic revenue. Instead, Governors are often co-opted into the process of spending more than the state has, by promising not to line-item expenditures favored by legislative leaders in return for getting the Governor's own priorities into the budget. The budget is presumed to be balanced based on unrealistically high expectations of revenue, or by shifting funds between accounts. This gives up the one essential function the Governor has for preventing budget deficits

The above are statements on several public policy issues drafted by Tom Campbell, former US Congressman, former California State Senator, former Director of Finance for California, and currently Interim Chairman of the Common Sense Party. They are meant to initiate consideration of several important issues; they are not the official views of the Common Sense Party. Please feel free to submit your own thoughts on these issues on the Open Policy Discussion Page.