Gutless blunders.

• Author: Donsky, Martin
• Position: North Carolina's budget troubles

Let's give credit where credit is due: A threat from Wall Street prompted North Carolina politicians to get serious about settling the state's budget troubles. Even then, it took weeks of haggling, with little effort to compromise, before the General Assembly could agree on spending for the fiscal year.

For a time, it seemed as if analysts from Moody's and Standard & Poor's were calling the shots. Both bond-rating companies sent representatives here for meetings with top officials to determine what had caused the budget crunch and what was to be done to solve it.

In mid-June, Gov. Jim Martin and State Treasurer Harlan Boyles flew to Manhattan for what one political columnist described as a "deferential visit" to S&P. Think about that: our leaders genuflecting at the altar of the bond boys. Oh please, they pleaded, don't cut our prized triple-A rating.

As Ferrell Guillory, political editor of The News and Observer and a longtime observer of state politics, wrote in a column, "Raleigh has become the site of a leadership vacuum." He was being polite.

Ask around and you'll hear people talk about a "sorry state government" devoid of leadership, cooperation and communication, three critical tools for successful governing, especially at a time of slower economic growth and greater demands for state money.

Jim Martin, North Carolina's highest elected official, claims he can make the General Assembly react to issues, but he concedes, "As a Republican governor, I can't get the Democratic majority in the legislature to follow my leadership."

That assumes, of course, that Martin is willing to provide direction. At times, it seems, he has been preoccupied with building his party and disinclined to manage the bureaucracy or build consensus with Democrats - or Republicans, for that matter. With House Speaker Joe Mavretic feuding with fellow Democrats and Senate leaders marching to their own drummer, nobody was able to bring the disparate views together.

Then again, North Carolina's governor doesn't have all the tools of the trade needed to get the job done. The lack of a veto means nobody (assuming anyone wants to) can take ultimate responsibility for running state government. He's the only chief executive among the 50 who can't say no and make it stick.

Had he held that power, Martin argues, he would have put a stop to the culprit most responsible for this summer's financial woes - the budget the General Assembly passed in August 1989. "If I had the...