Bumstead on 'Ed Rendell's furlough fraud'

Brad Bumstead of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review hits another one out of the park off Gov. Ed Rendell.

This time, it's over the governor's empty threat to furlough "non-essential" state workers if Rendell doesn't get his way on the proposed $28.3 billion state budget.

The Constitutional deadline for passage of a budget is June 30, but Rendell is 0-for-5 so far when it comes to meeting the deadline. There's no reason to think the 2008-09 budget will be any different, although Rendell has started threatening to furlough state workers weeks ago.

Bumstead argues that there's no precedent for federal fines if the state doesn't furlough the workers, unlike what Rendell has been saying.

Read Bumstead's full column, "Ed Rendell's furlough fraud" at The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Web site.