When the Pennsylvania House and Senate established a conference committee to resolve the state budget, the initial meetings were public.
That’s how the rules say they should be. After all, the budget is a public matter and decisions amounting to billions of dollars ought to be made out in the open.
But such notions mean little in Harrisburg, and soon the budget negotiations were moved behind closed doors. The reason: There was no progress on the budget because there was too much grandstanding.
Last week, after several secretive sessions, budget talks fell apart. And guess what? Both sides accused the other of grandstanding.
There also were claims of refusal to bargain in good faith tossed back and forth.
So what’s the truth here? Beats me; the meeting were secret. For all I know, they’re all lying.
Searching for a budget hero in Harrisburg is a fruitless endeavor. The failure of leadership at the state level is nothing less than astonishing. The politicians spout ideals and ideology, when they know full well that any budget is a work of compromise.
In this instance, too many of our legislators are so beholden to special interests and political stridency that they are frozen in place.
Looking over the budget mess in Harrisburg, I can’t help but think of the events that led to World War I.
This conflict was rooted in the incompetent leadership of the era. The supposed leaders didn’t know how to deal with a mounting crisis. So an assassination in Sarajevo was allowed to become the equivalent of a snowball rolling down a mountain. Eventually, no one could stop it and much of the world went to war.
There may not be bloodshed as a result of Pennsylvania’s budget crisis — or at least nothing compared to the millions lost in World War I. But there will be pain, lots and lots of absolutely unnecessary pain.
Take, for instance, what’s happening with Head Start in Lawrence County. As reported in Friday’s edition of the New Castle News, about 160 children will be denied access to Head Start programs here because Harrisburg failed to cough up cash for their programs.
These youngsters will be denied an important opportunity. Their parents likely will have to juggle their schedules — including their jobs — to deal with children who won’t be in school. And about 30 educators in the county are now either laid off or unemployed because their state representatives have let them down.
The root cause is a gang in Harrisburg that couldn’t perform its most fundamental and most regular task — creating a budget.
There have been plenty of excuses: A recession that forces tough decisions, intransigence on the opposite side of the political aisle, uncertainty over what the future may hold.
But in these times, we all have it rough. We all have to make decisions we don’t like. We all have to deal with adversity.
The difference is that we act. Or at least most of us do. We don’t have a choice.
Unfortunately, our legislators have the luxury of inaction — especially now that they’ve passed a partial budget that includes — surprise! — their own salaries.
Other people may be laid off, other people may be denied important services, but our lawmakers continue to draw a full salary and enjoy per diems and other perks. The same holds true with Gov. Ed Rendell.
I hope Pennsylvanians remember all of this come next year’s elections.
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