Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Phillips How to Be Governor 101, Lesson 2: If a Bill Does Nothing, Why Sign It?
Posted by Betsy Phillips on Wed, Apr 4, 2012 at 5:06 AM
Lesson 1 was "Read and follow important legislation."
Lesson 2 is this: A law should do something you think the state needs done. If a bill doesn't do something the state needs done or if it doesn't do anything at all, you should veto it.
Think of it this way. If I came along and said, "Gov. Haslam, I'm going to sew this arm right to your chest," and you asked, "Um, what?" and I said, "No worries, it belonged to a psycho killer and sometimes it does things you don't want! But I'm sure you'll be fine," you'd say, "No, don't attach an arm to my chest." And if I said, "No worries, it doesn't even do anything," you'd say, "Um, then why do I need another arm?"
A law should be a little like another arm — if it's not going to work for the good of the state, we shouldn't go grafting it on to the Code.
Yet you, Gov. Haslam, don't seem to understand this. You're planning on signing the school science bill precisely because, "Nothing in the curriculum of the state of Tennessee will change and the scientific standards won’t change."
Why would you endorse a bill that doesn't do anything? Is it because you're afraid of pissing off the supporters of the bill? Well, sir, I bet you pissed them off when you called their bill impotent.
I think the governor believes he can appease the rabid wing of his party by signing these bills, yet appease business leaders who don't want a workforce full of ignorant yahoos by putting out word that the bills don't do anything.
But instead his actions give the impression that Haslam doesn't understand that the governor's job is to do what's best for the state. A bill that he believes doesn't do anything — regardless of its content — hardly sounds like it's in the state's best interest.
And if he doesn't have the guts to veto it, Haslam should at least not sign it.
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