Gov. Ed Rendell, DINO
Why does Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell even maintain the pretense that he is a Democrat? He should just change his registration to Republican and be done with it. No true Democrat would threaten and bully state employees to give up their July raises in the name of sparing big business from a modest tax increase to close the projected deficit in the state budget.
And that's really what it's all about. Instead of asking big business--the people who got us into this economic mess with their Bush enablers--to bear the cost of the pain they created, Rendell is trying to balance the budget on the backs of the state employees. Like a true Republican, he has vowed not to seek a tax increase to close the deficit.
I don't doubt it would be tough to get a modest tax increase through the Republican-controlled Senate. But remember, Rendell got the mercury emission regulations through the Senate, past the seemingly implacable opposition of a few coal Senators. So, too, can he get a tax increase through the Senate. You give them something they want, they hold their noses and vote to reduce the profits of their big business patrons by an infinitesimal amount.
I doubt that Rendell will do that. He has earned the title of DINO--Democrat In Name Only.