Dems and Republicans: May 2009 Archives

State Sen. Jake Corman, R-Centre County, who is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, was in York County last week to talk about what a great plan Republicans have for the state budget, as opposed to the lousy one Gov. Ed Rendell is backing.

Rendell and the Senate Republicans have to find a compromise they can both live with before July 1, the deadline for a new state budget.

Basically, Rendell is talking about a $29 billion spending plan, while the Republicans are backing a $27.3 billion budget. The difference may seem proportionately small, but keep in mind that the vast majority of spending under the state budget is mandatory.

I started covering state politics the year Rendell, a Democrat, took office. And every year since then, he's feuded with Republicans over the state budget.

This year, however, the feud seems to be happening earlier and more publicly than it did in the past. Corman said that's because the economy will make this a particularly difficult budget year.

While I'm sure that's true, I suspect there's another reason as well.

I always end up doing a double-take at this time of year. OK, in tomorrow's primary, I'm going to vote for ... Wait a second! I'm not voting for anybody. Because I can't.

I'm registered as an independent. That's for professional reasons. When I moved to York, I knew that I'd be covering politics, and I didn't want anybody to be able to accuse me of bias on the basis of my voter registration.

People still accuse me of bias all the time, of course. But since liberals and conservatives tend to level that accusation in more-or-less equal amounts, I figure I'm doing a pretty good job of keeping partisanship out of my writing.

Pennsylvania has a closed primary system, meaning you have to be registered in a certain party to vote in its primary. And even though it would benefit me personally if the state government changed that, I don't think they should.

Yesterday, we were scrambling to get a pretty big story -- the potential closing of the Springettsbury Township Harley-Davidson plant.

I was working on it, but business news isn't really my bailiwick for this blog. The reason I bring it up is because I got a call from U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr., who wanted to mention his role in getting tax breaks for motorcycle purchases added to the federal stimulus bill.

Casey's been one of the Obama administration's big boosters for the federal stimulus package. Every time I talk to him on the subject, I think about the way the national Democratic Party treated his father, what a mistake that turned out to be, and how the Republicans seem to be making the same mistake these days.

As promised, here's the video of Arlen Specter's visit to our newspaper yesterday.

On a personal note, it was the most robust I've seen him look in person since his bout with cancer. Regardless of what you think of him politically, I think you'll agree that's good to see.