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Posted January 28, 2002
The Honesty of NumbersBy Alan Greenblatt
Gerlach spent the last five years running a leftish think tank, where he criticized any government policy that didn’t lead to greater spending on education and a more progressive tax rate. He combated Easley, for instance, on a state-sponsored lottery. Last spring, Gerlach helped Easley close a number of tax loopholes. Now Easley has hired him to work full-time to examine the state’s tax code and study ways to make state government more efficient.
The state needs the help, because it’s budget woes are among the worst in the nation. But the reason Gerlach in particular made an appealing choice for Easley is obvious. He has an unusual ability to translate boring budget numbers into relatively compelling policy arguments. Before he came on board, for instance, Easley’s people turned to Gerlach to explain how some proposed tax policies would affect average people — families of four where the breadwinners make about $30,000.
The fact that Gerlach used to take shots at the governor based on his numbers has a lot of folks unhappy, now that he’s working for the man. Gerlach’s old allies are worried that he will sell out their causes. “I think that progressive advocates are losing an important outside voice,” worries Chris Fitzsimon, director of another left-leaning Raleigh foundation.
Since the left is taking that point of view, perhaps it’s not surprising that the chamber of commerce types are worried that Gerlach will connive to tax them out of existence. Gerlach’s appointment “is not good news for the business community because of Gerlach’s anti-business views, especially as it relates to banking,” says Phil Kirk, who heads the North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry.
It hasn’t seemed to occur to anyone, excepting Easley, that Gerlach might be capable of putting aside his own ideology and simply crunching the numbers honestly. There is some reason to expect that this will be the case. Over the course of his career, Gerlach found common ground with different groups — teaming with conservatives in the legislature to fight the lottery proposal, as an example. People have been able to use Gerlach’s honest numbers to mean whatever they need them to mean.
After all, before he came to Raleigh, Gerlach was a staff aide in the New York state Assembly. And you can’t find a better environment than that to learn the skills of insider compromise.
Alan Greenblatt is a staff writer for Governing.
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an Gerlach is the newest senior policy adviser for North Carolina Governor Mike Easley. Who cares, right? It turns out that a lot of people in Raleigh are hot and bothered about the appointment, at both ends of the ideological spectrum.