Republican candidate says governor not facing budget music

A republican candidate for Governor says democrat Governor Tom Vilsack has mismanaged the state budget for the past 14 months. G-O-P candidate Doug Gross says state taxes started lagging way back in December of 2000, but Vilsack didn’t respond.Gross says Vilsack has consistently refused to face the budget music and cut spending.Vilsack this week said it was time to borrow from the state’s rainy day economic emergency account to cover the latest state budget problem. Gross says Vilsack should have offered a solution long ago rather than wait ’til the last minute.Vilsack says education’s his top priority, but Gross says you couldn’t tell that by the way Vilsack’s crafted his budget plan since education suffers huge cuts, and the promised teacher pay increase didn’t happen.Gross made his comments on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press” program, which airs tonight.