Holden Vows To Fight On Despite Special Session Setback

Governor Bob Holden declares he’s looking at all of his options in the wake of a special legislative session that ignored his revenue package for education. Governor Holden consistently deflected questions about the threeoverrides of his vetoes last week, insisting the real tragedy of the week was that the Legislature ignored his call to close four so-called corporate tax loopholes to raise $44-Million for public schools. It’s a theme hesticks to in discussing his lack of success in the second special session he called. In the regular session andthe first special session, Holden asked for a much bigger tax package. He says he pared it down to make it more acceptable. Instead, Republican leaders in the House ignored it while Republican leaders in the Senate sentit to a committee which killed it. Holden rejects House Speaker Catherine Hanaway’s assertion that lawmakers would take his proposal more seriously if he would have released the nearly $200-Million in education funding he withheld the beginning of the fiscal year. Holden says he can’t released the withhold, because he says the money simply isn’t there.