Barbour: Show Me Your Plan

The Daily Journal ran a lengthy piece on the almost insurmountable obstacles that university mergers face heading into the 2010 legislative session. House Universities and College Committee Chair Kelvin Buck (D-Holly Springs) has repeatedly said he will not bring up any legislation to consider mergers. Appointed by Speaker of the House Billy McCoy, Buck (and other committee chairs) have the ability to essentially kill any legislation in committee without giving it any thought, discussion- or vote.

And even on the GOP side, the mergers talks have not gotten very far. Most of those in power in the Senate, including Lt. Governor Phil Bryant and Colleges and Universities Committee Chairman Sen. Doug Davis (R-Hernando), have been non-committal from day one.

Buck plans to hold hearings on the mergers, but also wants to look at what he sees as a funding formula that harms smaller schools such as MVSU, Alcorn St, and MUW.

Buck’s opposition is in line with the man who appointed him, Billy McCoy, who previously said he is “100 percent opposed to the mergers.”

Haley Barbour shot back saying that those legislators who oppose his cost-savings plans will need to develop their own proposals.

Those plans from Democrats have been few and far between. Shortly after Barbour’s FY2010 budget was released, Jamie Franks issued this press release where he criticized the governor for the economic troubles of the states and criticized three points in Barbour’s proposals (including university mergers). He offered no guidelines for saving money in that presser.

The Democrats then released another press release last week. It was dedicated to supporting Barack Obama’s idea of healthcare reform and criticizing Barbour’s tenure as governor (not necessarily his specific plans for 2010). Rather than saying what we need to do to save money, he said what we should have done (raise the cigarette tax earlier and opposed offering incentives for Toyota to locate in Northeast Mississippi).

There you have it. The most detailed plan from Democrats to date: go back in time.