This is why you can't take Ed Rendell seriously

Pennsylvania is 40 days into a new fiscal year, but state officials are no closer to agreeing on a new budget than they were on June 30, the last day of the 2008-09 fiscal year.

In a recent poll, 30 percent of the state's voters placed the blame for the budget impasse on Gov. Ed Rendell, but 17 percent blamed the Republicans in the Legislature while 11 percent blamed the Democrats and 28 percent blamed everyone equally.

Pennsylvania finished the 2008-09 budget year with a #3.25 billion deficit, but Rendell wants to spend even more money for 2009-10. And a newspaper is now reporting that Rendell has also spent more than $360 million in borrowed money.

The man has a serious problem, which is why he is being referred to more often as "Ed Spendell."

From a story by Debra Erdley in today's edition of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Faced with the growing impact of a prolonged recession and revenue shortfalls, Gov. Ed Rendell last fall froze state hiring, ordered spending reductions and hunkered down for a coming budget battle.

On the surface, it appeared Pennsylvania was mired in a financial morass that would affect spending at all levels.

But records obtained by the Tribune-Review show one thing hasn't been hampered by the state's revenue woes: Rendell's ability to spend borrowed money.

While he was battling revenue shortfalls and lobbying for an income tax increase, Rendell was running his own economic stimulus program, quietly handing out $361 million in bond money across the state.

Read the full story, "Pennsylvania Governor Rendell doles out $361 million in borrowed money," at the newspaper's Web site.