The governor’s determination to place a statue on the capitol dome is becoming a symbol of misplaced priorities in an extremely tight budget year.

Kansans like art. They like someone who knows how to stand on principle. But enough is enough.

While confirming Thursday that additional budget cuts would be necessary to many agencies that receive state general fund dollars, Gov. Bill Graves also reaffirmed his plans to spend $750,000 to put a statue of a Kansa Indian atop the statehouse dome.

Granted, the $750,000 is a drop in the bucket when dealing with tax collections that fell more than $200 million short for the fiscal year that ended June 30, but sometimes symbolism is important. In answer to questions posed during his Thursday press conference, Graves acknowledged that funding cuts under consideration could close some smaller state parks or increase the waiting lists for some social services in the state.

A temporary closing of some state parks may be a reasonable response to the state’s financial situation, but how many teachers will have to be fired, how many Kansans will have to wait for social services so that the governor can make good on his pledge to see the “Ad Astra” statue in place on the capitol dome?

In reiterating his support for spending the money, Graves pointed to the state’s “commitment” to Salina sculptor Richard Bergen who was commissioned in 1988 to complete the statue.

“I feel very strongly that if we don’t honor our commitment to Dick Bergen now, this state will never honor that commitment,” Graves said.

What about the state’s other commitments? The commitment to Kansas school children or the elderly and infirm who rely on social services? It would be great to complete the Ad Astra statue project, but is it more important, in this difficult financial time, than funding the state’s many other pressing priorities?

The governor also said that the statue funding “is purely my call.” It’s good that he’s taking responsibility for the decision, but this is hardly a time to be invoking personal privilege on a state-funded project. It almost makes it seem that the governor is trying to leave Ad Astra as some sort of physical legacy of his tenure. If his legacy had included the kind of sound fiscal management that produced plenty of funding for such projects, the statue would be drawing little attention now.

Maybe the statue could be displayed on the statehouse lawn until the state could afford to install it on the dome. If Graves is set on hoisting Ad Astra to the dome, maybe he should consider a private fund drive, similar to the one that funded improvements at Cedar Crest, the governor’s mansion. Insisting on even this relatively small expenditure of state funds on an entirely optional project simply sets the wrong tone.