Gov. Ed Rendell, offering his synopsis of Tuesday’s election on NBC’s Meet the Press, acknowledged the results weren’t great for Democrats.
“I’m happy I wasn’t running this year,” Rendell said, adding that he didn’t believe the results were a referendum on Obama. “When things are bad, incumbents are held responsible for it,” Rendell said. He warned […]

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John Baer of the Philly Daily News is today’s must-read.

We ought to start sending sheep to the Legislature. I know you think we already do, but I mean for real. Hear me out. We save a ton of money even if we phase them in. Most sheep don’t drive so we save on taxpayer-financed car […]

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Brad Bumsted of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has Rendell on the record:
“This budget is not balanced for this year, and it’s a billion dollars short for next year,” Rendell said in Pittsburgh. He said he plans to tell the legislative leaders who announced the agreement that he would “absolutely” veto the measure.
“If they override it, they […]

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Gov. Ed Rendell’s office is putting the finishing touches on a statement opposing the so-called budget agreement reached by three of the four legislative caucuses, a spokesman said. But his chief of staff, Steve Crawford, told The Post-Gazette Rendell cannot support the plan.
The spending proposal by Senate Republican and Democratic leaders and House Democrat leaders […]

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You decide. From Capitolwire.com Bureau Chief Peter L. DeCoursey:
HARRISBURG (Sept. 10) – A $27.945 billion proposed budget is expected to be announced Friday morning at a joint press conference of leaders of the House Democrats, Senate Republicans and Senate Democrats.
House Democrats were ardently lobbying Rendell to agree to the deal Thursday night, administration officials said, […]

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State Senate Republicans will try today to override nearly $2.2 billion in spending items vetoed by Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell in the seven-week-old partisan budget stalemate. A successful veto override requires two-thirds majority votes in the House and Senate. Such an effort would face an uphill climb in the Senate, where cooperation from four Democrats […]

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Came across this little nugget, an October story from The Associated Press, in researching previous state budget votes (emphasis is mine):
The deteriorating economy and rising costs for such big-ticket items as health care and prisons is leading the state government on a path to a massive deficit that will require a tax increase to erase, […]

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You probably remember from last week that Gov. Ed Rendell, standing alongside Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray and city police Chief Keith Sadler, called on Congress to reinstate a ban on assault weapons like the one used recently to kill three Pittsburgh police officers. On Sunday, the governor faced off with the National Rifle Association’s top […]

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So says Ed.
From the Inky:
The dust had not yet settled on the federal stimulus debate when Gov. Rendell said yesterday that Pennsylvania had escaped disaster. In fact, Rendell said, the state will get almost the full $5 billion he was seeking in budget aid over three years. “No major damage was done to us,” Rendell […]

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From Quinnipiac University this morning:
By a 69%-28% margin, PA voters oppose of Gov. Ed Rendell’s plan to allow counties to raise the sales tax by 1% and keep the revenue for local government. However, voters do support Rendell’s proposal to increase cigarette taxes by 10 cents per pack (67%-28%) and his plan to legalize video […]

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