The state’s financial problems will persist so long as the Legislature refuses to do its job of aggressively overseeing state spending.

There are two fundamental reasons why our elected state officials have all but shirked their crucial job as watchdog over the executive branch and its spending policies and proposals.

First, the lobbyists. Because Maine is such a small state, lobbyists here have remarkable access to and influence over legislators. The entire legislative body in Maine is contained on the third floor of the State House. The lobbyists mill around the small passageway between the House and Senate waiting for a chance to talk to key lawmakers. They seldom have to wait long.

Second is the fake oversight system created by the Legislature where each state department is assigned to a legislative “committee of oversight.” Each committee makes budget recommendations for their respective departments after reviewing the governor’s initial proposal.

But invariably, despite tough talk and tough times, the committees do little real probing of state spending and certainly don’t insist that the department leaders justify their staff levels or present a serious, credible priority list for each two-year budget cycle.

Even in our two costliest state departments – human services and education – the oversight committees become more cheerleaders than investigators. This is well-known and acknowledged in Augusta. And when a lawmaker actually suggests something meaningful, the lobbyists round up their interest groups, pack the hearing rooms and give the committees political cover to do the same old, same old. Nothing.

The new budget that takes effect tomorrow was passed by the Democrats in March after just a few weeks of “review” by the committees of oversight. As a result of the rush, and as a result of the lack of meaningful oversight and leadership, lawmakers were forced to cobble together an 11th-hour “budget fix” to avoid borrowing $250 million for routine ongoing expenses such as payroll.

The fact that the $250 million loan was included in the budget in the first place illustrates the problem: Our Legislature will buy into any gimmick to avoid balancing the budget the old-fashioned way – by reducing nonessential spending and carefully considering ways to increase revenue to ensure the weakest citizens and strongest programs are protected.

The good news is that every two years we get another chance to do that. And when citizens have finally had enough, they will demand it.