By Steve Peoples
Journal State House Bureau

The annual frenzy continued last week in Room 35.

The House Finance Committee on Wednesday unveiled and approved its 2010 budget, racing through two dozen complex budget articles that had been released to the public -- and to most committee members -- minutes before the votes were cast in most cases. Lobbyists and the members of the public scrambled for copies in the hallway as the committee approved the proposals with little or no debate inside.

The chaotic hearing may have been far shorter if not for the presence of the outspoken Minority Leader Robert A. Watson.

"It's asinine. It's absurd. This is what breeds mistrust in the process, when they see such a rush to judgment," he told Political Scene. "Frankly, these pieces, these articles are presented to the members literally at the same second it's being moved and seconded. This is not the way to run a General Assembly."

Finance Committee Chairman Steven M. Costantino later fired back: "The comments made by Leader Watson do a disservice to the Republican and Democratic members of the Finance Committee who spent hundreds of hours attending hearings in reviewing every aspect of the state budget. Leader Watson never came to a single hearing, and if he had watched them on TV, then he should have known the issues that were debated by the committee on Wednesday."