A slap in the face from Ed Rendell

There was a time, not very long ago, when Ed Rendell could do no wrong in the eyes of The Philadelphia Inquirer editorial board.

Despite breaking most of his campaign promises and plunging the state into a fiscal crisis, glowing editorials about Fast Eddie routinely graced the newspaper's opinion page.

Recent changes in personnel appear to have brought even the die-hard liberals at the Inky to their senses. The newspaper is beginning to acknowledge what a disaster Rendell has been for Pennsylvania.

And his hypocrisy is no longer being excused.

A perfect example is an editorial about Rendell hiring longtime political crony Dan Surra, a former state representative bounced from office by his constituents, to a lucrative patronage job that pays $95,000.

Patronage is nothing new in Harrisburg, but when the state budget is hemorrhaging red ink and the governor has imposed a hiring freeze, handing out do-nothing jobs to career politicians will get noticed.

From the Inky editorial:

In September, faced with a worsening budget deficit, Rendell ordered state agencies not to fill about 5,000 vacant jobs. He also told department heads to cut their budgets by 4.25 percent.

In December, as the recession took hold, Rendell froze wages for more than 13,000 nonunion state employees.

"I am asking all commonwealth employees to pull together during this difficult time," the governor said.

But times were not too tough for Rendell to create a $95,000-a-year state job out of thin air for a fellow Democrat.

The newspaper wants Rendell to reverse his decision and send Surra packing.

"At a time when the governor is demanding sacrifice from everyone else, he should follow his own advice," the newspaper says. "Creating dubious jobs for out-of-work pols in the middle of a budget crisis is a slap to taxpayers."

Read the full editorial at the newspaper's Web site.