Reading mayor needs a shovel

The first rule of holes: When you're in one, stop digging.

Democrat Tom McMahon, fresh from his re-election to a second four-year term as mayor Reading, has a credibility problem.

He spent the 2007 campaign championing himself as the man who turned the city's finances around. But two months into his new term, McMahon is having trouble explaining how the city spent $2.1 million more than it had budgeted in 2007.

McMahon insists he didn't mislead Reading City Council about the city's finances. But his nose keeps growing bigger every time he opens his mouth.

Even the Reading City Council president, a fellow Democrat, is having trouble believing the mayor, according to the Reading Eagle:

Council President Vaughn D. Spencer suggested McMahon hadn't given council the data because he was running for re-election, and said he was surprised McMahon wasn't at Monday night's meeting when city Managing Director R. Leon Churchill Jr. presented the bad news.

Read more about the city's financial woes and the finger-pointing, "Reading mayor says budget figures a surprise," in the Reading Eagle.

City Council members are discussing layoffs, cuts in city services and a significant property tax hike to deal with the city's fiscal crisis.

McMahon's GOP opponent in November, Keith Stamm, chimes in about the city's financial mess at his blog. Stamm says the mayor misled the public to gain re-election.