Day 64 without a real budget. The Conference Committee meeting didn’t seem to get much accomplished this week. I am now hearing from school teachers afraid that they may not get paid at some point in the future. The other groups of folks that are not now being paid are in regular communication with me and I’m sure other local legislators. It is certainly a difficult situation we face. County governments are out of cash and seeking loans, many social service agencies are closing at least part of their operations, day care centers are closing and the schools are starting to look at what they will do when they miss yet another state allocation. The Governor has created this entire debacle. He certainly has done this directly by line item vetoing out about 60% of the entire budget, but he failed to do all of the early necessary work to move this budget through the process in April, May and June. You must be prepared and you must work in a timely fashion or the budget will not be done on time. He should know this since this is his seventh budget. But, evidently, he doesn’t know this since it’s his seventh late budget. Why have other Governors been able to pass budgets on time? The answer might be that they did their homework and took a reasonable approach to this issue. This Governor uses the entire process as a way to start new programs and spend money where he wants to. He doesn’t seem to care about including the concerns of the General Assembly or the people of Pennsylvania. He doesn’t seem to care about the long term effects of what things cost. His objective is his legacy as Governor. That is not leadership, that is not good government, that is selfishness.
- John
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