I'm back!
I was away on vacation for a week. Miss me? Yeah, right.
First, I went to a seminar in Silver Spring, Md. Then I visited my parents in New Jersey. That's right, Tom Joyce knows how to party!
So I wish I could tell you that I'm still languishing in a sun-and-Margarita-induced mental fog, but that just isn't the case. I guess we might as well dive right in.
My first day back started at 3 p.m. yesterday. I work the evening shift on Sunday nights. Usually, that entails setting aside politics to cover the crime beat. I spent last night, however, contacting local lawmakers to whether they thought a new state budget was forthcoming.
I spoke to them between 5 and 7 p.m. At that stage, frankly, it was pretty much an educated guess on their part. Gov. Ed Rendell and the various caucus leaders were holed up in a meeting, presumably negotiating their respective agendas. State Rep. Steve Nickol, R-Hanover, said that during budget negotiations, the rank-and-file lawmakers frequently find out what's going on from the press.
This morning, the latest news from Harrisburg was Rendell and the legislative leaders reached an agreement.
Today, I'm working on a story that isn't connected to state government. My colleague in Harrisburg, Rick Fellinger, will cover it for our paper. I offered to give him a hand if he's swamped, but he said he'll have an intern to help him out.
I would like to make one thing clear. When the lawmakers say -- and the news outlets report -- that they've reached a budget agreement, that doesn't mean they've actually passed a new state budget. In fact, it's a guarantee that the lawmakers won't pass a new state budget before midnight tonight, which is the deadline for passage.
Just printing out new versions of the proposed 2008-2009 state budget, which is the size of a phone book, will likely take a couple of days.
What this means is that Rendell and the Democratic and Republican leaders of the state House and Senate have agreed on a compromise, and a budget will be forthcoming.
That's significant, because Rendell had implied that he'd "furlough" about 25,000 "nonessential" state workers if they didn't reach a handshake agreement before deadline.
He did that last year, for the ostensible reason that without the reasonable expectation of a forthcoming budget, he had no funding mechanism to provide their salaries. General Assembly Republicans say that Rendell was basically making that up, and using the possible furlough to twist their arms.
Regardless of the underlying reason, state parks and drivers license centers statewide shut down for a day. In light of the recent agreement, it looks like that won't happen this year.
As far as details of the budget go, I assume that Rick will pass those details along to you (and me) as they trickle out of the respective caucuses.
I would like to raise one more pressing issue. How come Rick gets an intern and I don't? I think I should get one, too. Someone to mentor. Someone who can do research and run errands for me. Someone I can take out snipe hunting.
So start your letter-writing campaign today. Together, we can make a difference!
