The Wisconsin State Journal reports that legislative Democrats are trying to get Republicans to vote against the state budget.

The Democrats have succeeded in one case, but not for reasons they’d agree with — Rep. Steve Nass (R–Whitewater):

“Since the Republican leadership is opposed to any substantive changes in their version of the state budget and determined to block any attempts by the rank-and-file members for common sense conservative improvements, I must prioritize the views of my constituents by voting against this flawed two-year spending plan,” Nass said.

Nass noted on the structural deficit that Republican leaders appear ready to repeat history by adopting the same horrible 1990s rhetoric of claiming “we can grow our way out of deficit spending.” This proven unsound fiscal policy created nearly 16 years of ongoing Wisconsin deficits topping out at more than $3.6 billion. Rep. Nass has voted against previous state budgets (Republican or Democrat) that contained structural deficits.

“The parental school choice deal in this budget is great for the politicians that cut it behind closed doors. However, it’s nothing short of an absolute cave-in to the status-quo defenders of the education bureaucracy in the State Senate. The low income families of this state will have the school door of hope slammed in their face if this deal becomes law,” Nass said.

Nass pointed out that this bad deal could easily be cleaned up in large part by the Governor’s formidable veto powers. However, Sen. [Mike] Ellis and Sen. [Luther] Olsen wouldn’t have agreed to this backroom deal unless they had a commitment from the administration on no vetoes in this language.

This is a no-lose move for Nass, similar to two years ago, when Rep. Travis Tranel (R–Cuba City) voted against the public employee collective bargaining ban. The budget will pass given the large Republican majority in the Assembly, even without Nass’ vote. The budget will eventually pass in the Senate too, even with the GOP’s Gang of Three, Ellis, Olsen and Sen. Dale Schultz (R–Richland Center), who apparently enjoy tweaking the majority when they’re part of the majority.

Nass is correct about the structural deficit. The fact the state did grow out of structural deficits for a while only encouraged them, which led to the crash in state finances during the 2009–10 Legislature. I disagree with Nass about the school choice expansion, because, as I wrote here last week, I think once the program is in place, Republicans will campaign about expanding it, and Democrats will have a difficult time arguing against the expansion of what will become a popular program.

The tax cut is only about half as large as it should be, given Gov. James Doyle’s $2.2 billion tax increase. And since we have no meaningful controls on governmental spending, state and local governments spend twice as much as they should. Growth in government spending beyond inflation (which has been minimal for years) and population growth is unjustified.