As Montana's school-funding puzzle remains unsolved, observers are starting to ask: Where's the leadership from Gov. Brian Schweitzer?
I can tell you why Gov. Brian Schweitzer isn't taking a leadership role in school funding. There is way to big of chance he will find himself in a lose/lose situation and his precious ego couldn't handle that. It's a lose/lose situation because not enough money to schools will cause the Montana Quality Education Coalition to criticize him for not helping schools while spending too much will mean he has to break his no tax pledge and be criticized by taxpayers for picking their pockets.
It's a lot safer for him to let the Legislature take the criticism on this one. Schweitzer looks better that way. It's all about appearances, not doing the right thing, don't you know.
Appearance rules the world. Friedrich Schiller
UPDATE: Another quote that's more illuminating.
In politics, it doesn't matter what the facts are. It matters what the perceptions are. It is the way you frame it. Gov. Brian Schweitzer
