Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland literally wants to take food directly from the mouths of state bureaucrats.

Ohios state government spends nearly $51 billion a year, of which a tiny fraction about $3.9 million is spent on catered and restaurant meals each biennium. Gov. Strickland has ordered that the state quit spending money on precisely that kind of extravagance.

Stricklands audit of food expenses found:

The Ohio Department of Education spent more than $358,000 since mid-2005.

The Ohio Department of Health spent almost $358,000 during the same time frame.

The Ohio Board of Regents, which oversees higher education, spent $113,000.

As one newspaper headline put it, Like magic, lunch tabs may start to drop.

Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher started off his term with a few similar directives that apparently have faded when Fletcher turned his focus from fiscal frugality to taxpayer shakedowns.

In fiscal 2005, for example, Fletcher oversaw agencies that managed to return tens of millions of dollars to the general fund. That year marked the largest dollar value of lapsed funds in Kentucky since 1996 a laudable feat. Since then, however, Fletcher signed the two largest budgets in Kentucky history, even after vetoing more in appropriated funds than any previous governor.

The first months of the next gubernatorial term whoever might serve in that capacity should be spent rooting out large, egregious and otherwise-wasteful bits of spending.

Fletcher had a good start, but lost his way. If hes lucky enough to be returned to office, rooting out taxpayer-funded waste should once again become his top priority.

Sources:

Squeeze taxpayers dimes harder by Joel Peyton, Bluegrass Institute, Sept. 20, 2005.

Food for Trustees: $48,000 by Kathy Lynn Gray, The Columbus Dispatch, March 14, 2007.

A huge waste of our time, by Dan Hassert and Robert White, Kentucky Post, March 10, 2007.