The secret budget -- Does anyone care?

Charlie Sykes asks about the budget:

THURSDAY, June 30, 2005, 4:24 p.m.

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

Am I the only one who's bothered by the fact that this all takes place in secret?

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No, Charlie, there are two of us. I've tried to sound the alarms at different points in the process, when Republicans met by conference call, when Joint Finance members shuffled in and out of meetings in a "walking quorum," and when decisions were hammered out in secret caucuses.

I sent some of those comments to editorial writers around the state, to see if that could provoke anything. No luck.

No one seems to mind -- not the newspapers, not the Democrats, not the taxpayers.

Just you and me, Charlie. The odd couple, standing up for what's right, and fighting together for truth, justice and the American way. Kind of gives you shivers, doesn't it?