The foundational rule for comedy, action, and career moves on stage and screen is: Timing is everything. That same foundational rule applies to politics as well.
Timing can dictate whether a candidate wins an election, a policy passes, or a controversy takes on a life of its own. Just like in show business, when an action is taken can have a larger impact than the action itself.
So when the start of the state’s School Clothing Voucher Program was delayed three weeks, the application window closed after just seven days, then Governor Morrisey accused recipients of using the funds to purchase “beer and cigarettes”; the timing was right for a political firestorm.
Questions about the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which funds the clothing vouchers, had already been swirling since May. The governor announced during a news conference that an audit of the program concluded TANF was facing a structural deficit. However, details about the deficit were scarce.
More questions were raised in July when the start of the School Clothing Voucher Program was delayed for three weeks. Frustration started to build when the Department of Human Services closed the registration after just a week. Lawmakers and other state elected officials questioned the reasoning behind the move.
The issue evolved into a full-blown controversy when Governor Morrisey was addressing questions during the first leg of his “Clean Water Tour’ earlier this month and said:
“One thing we’re doing is we’re trying to ascertain the exact amount of money that’s in cash because I don’t want a penny of the money that should go for school clothing to be spent for cigarettes to be spent for beer to be spent for all these things.”
That comment was like pouring gasoline on a fire that had been smoldering all summer, and there was no chance the inferno was going to subside quickly.
With an emotionally charged subject and a headline-grabbing quote, news outlets that are typically starved for content this time of year immediately began to investigate the veracity of the governor’s comments and dig into the specifics of TANF and the clothing voucher program.
We have spent several days on Talkline discussing the topic, posing questions to confused and frustrated lawmakers who expected the program to be administered as usual.
The now-infamous “beer and cigarettes” comment also came less than a week before lawmakers were due back in Charleston for interim committee meetings, guaranteeing the issue would not fade into the ether.
New Human Services Secretary Carl Ayers, who was just appointed to the job on July 20, had to face the proverbial firing squad, testifying in front of the Legislative Oversight Commission on Health and Human Resources Accountability.
To his credit, Ayers took the pointed questions and did his best to offer the administration’s explanations, even though legislators appeared skeptical of his responses. He also inadvertently followed the golden rule of show business, leaving members of the committee wanting more.
In baseball, timing at the plate can be the difference between a lazy fly ball out and a legendary home run.
In politics, timing can be the difference between a curious eyebrow-raising comment and a full-blown controversy.