Topeka ? Teachers are being laid off, waiting lists for services for the handicapped are growing, and the clock is ticking toward June 30, the end of the fiscal year when state government could be brought to a standstill.

But during a crucial time between the regular legislative session and the current overtime session, Gov. Bill Graves and legislative leaders had no meetings to talk about how to fix what has grown into a $777 million budget shortfall.

And during the past year, when most state officials knew there were going to be serious budget problems, no one grabbed the reins to pull back spending.

“You would think you’d want to be fully engaged if you want to get out of the mess you’re in,” Senate Democratic Leader Anthony Hensley of Topeka said of Graves, a moderate Republican.

Republicans are divided between moderates and conservatives, and Hensley has a great deal of influence on 10 crucial Democratic votes in the 40-member Senate. But Hensley said he had met just once with Graves to talk about the budget since lawmakers started the regular session Jan. 14.

“I don’t mean to sound like a whiner, but I’m ready, willing and able to be included in any discussions with the governor on the budget or taxes. This is going to have to be a bipartisan solution,” Hensley said.

Republican jabs

Conservative Republicans also have unkind words for Graves’ leadership style.

“So far, all the governor seems to want to do is criticize,” said Rep. Doug Mays of Topeka.

Mays said Graves should have instituted spending cuts early-on “to lessen the blow. Instead there has been spending as if there has been no problem at all.”

Rep. Troy Findley, a Lawrence Democrat, said Graves was known for holding back from legislative fights and then “riding in on his white horse” at the end of the legislative session to bring different sides together.

But with the state mired in such a deep fiscal hole, Findley said, “It’s going to take some heavy lifting on everyone’s part to get out of here.”

Graves defends his performance, saying he proposed cuts and tax increases early and every time the state’s revenue picture worsened. The Legislature so far has ignored his proposals, although the budgets being shaped now are moving closer to his position.

And, he said, his door has been open to anyone who wanted to discuss how to end the prolonged legislative session.

Avoiding confrontation

But Democrats have said it was one thing to have a news conference, and quite another to twist arms or otherwise cajole lawmakers into agreement.

Graves, however, has been known to avoid personal confrontations with lawmakers and personal demands or pleas.

Some legislative observers also say that the state’s fiscal crisis couldn’t have come at a worse political time because lawmakers have been at war about the once-a-decade process of redistricting. There also is an open governor’s race. Graves is prevented from running for a third term and has announced his intentions to leave the state at the end of his term to head a trucking association.

Two legislative leaders Senate President Dave Kerr, R-Hutchinson, and House Speaker Kent Glasscock, R-Manhattan are considered possible contenders for the job. Their relationship during the current session has been frosty, which has complicated actions between the two chambers.

Glasscock said the House had taken a major step Thursday, adopting by a 63-61 vote a $4.4 billion budget that would require anywhere from $222 million to $300 million in additional revenue. But just minutes after the vote was tallied, many who voted for it said they simply were trying to move the process along, rather than endorsing a specific spending or tax plan.