UNION LEADER:

New Hampshire's budget has structural inefficiencies built into it. One of the most important is the statutory requirement that department heads submit to the governor what are called "maintenance budgets."

Those budgets must carry forward all current programs and services and include funds to pay for their growth. The "maintenance budget" requirement is a built-in budget enlarger, and lawmakers and the governor know it.

This year, Republicans in the Legislature tried to fix that. Sen. Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, and Rep. John Cebrowski, R-Bedford, introduced bills to require that department heads present two spending proposals: a maintenance budget and one that cuts costs by 5 percent. The Senate referred Bradley's bill to interim study, killing it for the year. What happened to Cebrowski's bill is more interesting.

Cebrowski amended his bill before it came up for a vote. He changed the 5 percent cut to a cut of between 3 percent and 10 percent. Democrats still killed his bill, defeating it in the House by 14 votes, with every Republican present voting for it.

Last week, Gov. John Lynch ordered exactly what Cebrowski and Bradley initially proposed in January: 5 percent cuts in each department. Lynch's spokesman said the governor opposed the Senate bill because it didn't give him any flexibility; it simply mandated a 5 percent cut. But the governor didn't support Cebrowski's bill either, though it gave him plenty of flexibility.

And last week the governor didn't use the flexibility he claimed he wanted. He asked for 5 percent from each department, not 7 percent from one, 4 percent from another, etc.

Again, Gov. Lynch played partisan politics to deny Republicans a victory on spending, then later implemented one of their ideas as if it were his own. This game is getting really old.