Or the state is facing a $150 million budget shortfall since the Bakken went tits up and all kinds of shit is going to get cut. Including 27 MHP officers.
I haven't studied the governor's budget proposal, but 27 MHP officers don't cost $150 million, so I'm betting all kinds of stuff is getting cut because our state has real budgetary problems that need to get dealt with. Now maybe Bullock shouldn't have increased the budget the past four years--but he had Republican controlled legislatures voting it in before he could sign or veto the budget bills--so it ain't his fault alone.
Perhaps, just for the sake of one single working state in a sea of failure, we could back off the brinksmanship, work with what we have and realize that perhaps not every politician is crooked and trying to screw us or stick us with a welfare state and that when you live in an extractive industry state and the cycle turns sour, things get cut, including public safety.
Full disclosure: I live in Helena and my kids go to the same school as Bullock's kids. He goes to the same parent stuff I go to. I may not agree with him politically, but he does seem to be a regular guy who tries his best. He isn't Clinton, he isn't Obama. He's a guy from Montana who got elected governor and has to deal with our mess, including limited money to pay for government which sometimes means cuts.
EDIT: I went and read the
Article. The cuts come from tying the MHP budget to fuel taxes, income from which decreased and Bullock's budget proposal simply follows the decrease. The response from FSA MHP troopers is to raise fuel taxes. So, just to be clear, OP, you want to pay more per gallon to keep your 27 MHP troopers? Or (gasp!) is a Democrat suggesting shrinking the size of government?! Dogs laying with cats!
More seriously, though, we have a tiny government. With a tiny budget. When oil and gas died in the 1980s, things looked bleak. We came back but things may get tight again. Frankly, it's the governor's job to suggest cuts. Across the board. And it looks like he is.