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“When there is a surplus and there is money, you couldn’t get people to tighten up, you couldn’t get agencies to pare down. You couldn’t get the bureaucracy to be somewhat self-eliminating,” he said.
But Wilder’s critics charge that while the budget situation has given Wilder an opportunity to pare down government, his handling of the situation has prevented him from advancing a policy agenda. Those critics also say he spends too much time trying to out-maneuver other nationally prominent Democrats and not enough time on state concerns.
Those critics say the first year of any administration is crucial, and that Wilder may have missed the only chance of his four-year term to set his own agenda.
“I would be hard pressed to idenify any one agenda item (Wilder has advanced),” said Mark Rozell, a political analyst at Mary Washington College and a Fairfax County resident. “There have been personal achievements, but there has not been any policy achievements.
“It’s ironic that the crisis lets him play the responsible fiscal conservative, while on the other hand he can say to the liberal interest groups, ‘the money isn’t there, but I’m with you,’ ” said Rozell.
Wilder maintains that his budget decisions are simply the best way to deal with the budget situation he inherited, and that he isn’t running for national office, although he has made frequent trips to New York, California and Iowa.
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