Democratic legislative leadership continues to impress by staying more or less in the driver’s seat of the budget debate. At a press conference today, Speaker Smith and Senator Shumlin indicated they would indeed hold an override vote on June 2nd, rather than adjourn to another date, and that they would propose a concurrent package of adjustments to the budget, designed to address concerns around the original bill – concerns expressed by the Governor as well as legislators of every stripe.

Now, the package includes a laundry list of several items, none of which really adds up to significant changes. The bill addresses the Unemployment Insurance Fund shortfall (which needed to be done regardless), there’s an exemption to farmers and logging interests from the ballyhooed closing of the capital gains tax loophole. All in all, not significant stuff. While reporters rightly pushed to determine if this companion package was designed to entice vacillating override votes, the truth is that it probably wasn’t. More likely that its simply an attempt to maintain the pro-active high ground both in the days leading up to the vote, as well as in the coverage on the day of.

A sense of how effective the leadership has been in keeping Douglas off his stride (and against all odds with a traditionally Douglas-friendly media that – at best – likes to cast battles into two polarized, equally out of touch sides): I was told that Douglas, when asked to respond to Democrats proposals, cited many of the very things addressed in this companion bill, and had to be told by reporters that his talking points (such as the impact of the cap gains change to farmers) were already obsolete. Woops.

Also of note is the fact that the budget hasn’t hadn’t actually been sent to the Governor yet (it arrived yesterday, expect a veto Monday). It may seem like a detail (and an odd one), but it will serve to maximize the drama of the June 2 session by tying the veto more closely to it. Heightened drama in this process means heightened attention and a leveling of the playing field (Douglas uses lulls and breaks in the narrative to work the media and public opinion very effectively).

On a side note: also present was Auditor Tom Salmon. Salmon, of course, recently grated with ill-timed and ill-considered grandstanding, “offering” his services as a budget mediator between the Legislature and the Governor (a transparently self-serving show he’s been roundly criticized for by most, Tim Newcomb notwithstanding). Maybe he was hoping to catch some camera time himself, as his continued media push for his “plan” has increased since the initial Reformer piece, and is bordering on buffoonery. Hopefully he’s gotten it out of his system.