DMN: Craig Watkins is at it Again


June 28, 2010

 

Watkins starts budget fight with hard-headed refusal

Here are two ways to know that another soft, sweet North Texas spring has turned to a brutal, head-pounding summer:

 

• Thanks to a nonstop air conditioner, your electric bill rivals some countries' GDPs.

 

• District Attorney Craig Watkins is going to war in public with Dallas County commissioners over his budget.

 

Watkins has staged annual shouting matches with commissioners since his election in November 2006. First, he wanted 68 more jobs; when challenged, he refused to prioritize them because each was too precious. Then, when the economy turned south – taking property values with it – he insisted the DA's office should be exempted from the budget-cutting pain.

 

Last year, the county faced about a $58 million shortfall and asked each department to cut 10 percent. This year, the shortfall was estimated at $43 million.

 

Again, the call went out for 10 percent cuts. Again, Watkins refused.

 

That was his starting point last year, too. His position shifted from pushing for a new law to require voter referendums on cuts to his budget, to demanding a 10 percent increase, to finally agreeing to a mix of cuts, discretionary fund shifts and promised revenue increases.

 

Unfortunately, he chose to play this out in public, which had to be terribly entertaining for other county employees, whose jobs hung in the balance and who had to hear from Watkins and his staff that only the "sacred ground" of the DA's office deserved to be spared.

 

This year, Watkins has refined his argument to oppose any cuts "that would jeopardize public safety," which in theory might also include the criminal courts, juvenile justice system and Sheriff's Department. Oh, and commissioners should be able to find all those savings and close that $43 million gap without raising taxes.

 

Watkins also is running for re-election, which might explain his tastes-great, less-filling platform.

 

The only problem is that Dallas County devotes much of its spending – Commissioner John Wiley Price puts it at "about 80 percent" – to law enforcement. Price, who exchanged some contentious words last summer with his fellow Democrat, doesn't appear interested in rising to the bait this year.

 

"He can shadow-box with himself," Price said. "We're moving down the road. The budget is not politics. Budgets are business."

 

Put another way, the elected DA has autonomy over his office, but commissioners decide how much he can spend.

 

It's ironic after years of forecasting criminals running wild if commissioners dared cut his dollars, Watkins is asking voters for another term based on his office's success, including a "99.4 percent conviction rate."

 

We can only imagine what it would have been if he'd gotten his way on past budgets.