Budget crisis? What budget crisis.

The fact that Democrats and Republicans in Harrisburg are no closer to striking a final budget compromise hasn’t stopped legislators from being patriotic – and spending your money in the process.

Over the past two weeks, officials in the House and Senate have bought 876 flags at a cost to taxpayers of more than $14,000, state records show.

Lawmakers hand out the Pennsylvania and U.S. flags, which range in price from $13.25 to $23.90 each, to constituent groups to fly over sites as diverse as Little League fields and Kawanis clubs.

Harrisburg activist Eric Epstein, founder of RockTheCapital.org, said if lawmakers really want to do something patriotic they should pass a state budget now.

“The only flag that matters,” he said, “is the one at the end of the finish line when the budget is done.”
 

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U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak stayed a little stiff and earnest but showed himself a good sport as Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert mocked him Wednesday night. Here's the bit - Sestak shows up about the 3:30 mark, but the whole wind up is worth it too.

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House Democratic lawmakers beat 77,000 government employees to the budget-crisis paycheck line, arranging for themselves to be paid ahead of other state workers.

That's according to John Micek of The Morning Call of Allentown, who confirmed with the House Comptroller's office today that it cut checks for Democratic lawmakers yesterday.

Gov. Rendell signed legislation this morning to allow paychecks to start being processed again, but state workers will not receive checks until next week at the earliest. Senate Democrats have not been paid, nor have Republican lawmakers in the Senate or the House, The Call reports.

Brett Marcy, a spokesman for House Majority Leader Todd Eachus, (D., Luzerne),  told The Call the caucus made the move when it did because leaders agreed not to pay members until the House passed a bill to pay state workers which they did yesterday.

Still, the Democrats' action outraged Republicans, who have been going without pay since last month.

"I hope you beat the ^&$% out of them," one GOP rank-and-filer told The Call.

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Gov. Rendell today signed a partial budget bill that he said will ensure paychecks begin flowing again to government workers, preserve health and safety services and jumpstart negotiations on the full 2010 spending plan. 

Rendell vetoed most of the contents of a Senate budget bill  but preserved $11 billion in state funding for salaries for some 77,000 state employees, as well as critical services such as police, prisons and some health care programs. He said he could not keep the Senate bill intact because it is out of balance by $1.7 billion and the constitution requires a balanced budget.

“What I am signing today is not a budget,” said Rendell. “I am signing legislation that will simply allow us to pay state employees who provide for immediate critical public health and safety services, and that will send negotiators back to the table to communicate, compromise and get real about delivering a true budget agreement for Pennsylvania.”

Billions for schools, hospitals, a myriad of programs and thousands for private contractors were stripped from the budget bill. Among the handful of programs preserved are payments to black lung victims and blind veterans and funding for life-or-death services, Rendell said, such as dialysis.

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The state House today gave preliminary approval to a bill to allow Philadelphia to increase its sales tax and defer pension payments, the first step toward easing the city's fiscal crisis.

But the legislation must still receive a final vote in the House and it was not clear when that will be.

The city asked Harrisburg for a bill that would include two elements key to the budget City Council approved last month: a one-cent increase in the city sales tax and a two-year delay in payments to the city pension fund. Mayor Nutter, who is in Harrisburg today meeting with lawmakers, also asked the General Assembly to approve structural changes to the fund.

It also was not clear when the state Senate would consider the bill, or if the majority Republicans in that chamber would support the measure. Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware) said yesterday legislators and the governor must agree on the 2010 budget before the Senate will consider what he called "the Philadelphia bailout legislation."

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The state House today passed a state budget bill as a vehicle to begin paying state workers again.

By a vote of 195-3, the House gave final approval to a so-called "bridge budget," sending it to Gov. Rendell who has said he will sign it tomorrow. Rendell has said he will veto all but the government operations funding in order to ensure that roughly 77,000 state workers can begin receiving paychecks again.

During the hour-long debate, lawmakers from both parties said they were unhappy about voting to approve a partial budget, but said they would do so in order to help state workers and their families who have not received full paychecks for weeks because of the budget impasse.

That budget would not provide billions in funding for schools, hospitals and social service organizations, many of which are no longer receiving payments from the state because of the budget stalemate. That has prompted some Republican lawmakers to accuse the administration of "switching hostages" from state workers to human-services workers.

Rendell is expected to discuss his veto plans and the status of negotiations to complete the budget process at a news conference later today where he will sign a bill extending unemployment compensation to jobless Pennsylvanians.

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Harrisburg activist Gene Stilp today filed a federal judicial code of conduct complaint against U.S District Court Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter, alleging that the judge's comments during the sentencing of former state Senator Vincent J. Fumo "has undermined the public confidence in the independence and integrity of the court."

Last month, Buckwalter sentenced Fumo to 55 months in prison -- or four years and seven months -- after federal prosecutors had urged the judge to impose a prison term of more than 15 years. Fumo was convicted of charges that he illegally extracted $4 million in benefits, defrauding the Senate by getting workers to do his personal and political work on state time and defrauding two nonprofits. He also was found guilty of obstructing justice.

In imposing the sentence, Buckwalter noted more than 250 letters of support for Fumo that the defense had submitted. He said he had received only about five letters from people who were against Fumo.

In his complaint, Stilp states that thousands of letters could have been generated by citizens "who have witnessed Mr. Fumo's vindictive and corrupt methods ... but citizens did not realize that Judge Buckwalter made his decisions based on letters from defendants' political friends and benefactors."

"The citizens expected a lot more from a sitting federal judge," Stilp added.

Buckwalter's office said the judge would have no comment on the complaint.

Stilp contends in his complaint that only an investigation by "a body appointed by the federal judiciary can learn the true facts behind the sentencing of Mr. Fumo," and determine whether "Judge Buckwalter was politically influenced" in meting out the punishment.

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He's not yet a candidate officially, but Attorney General Tom Corbett has rounded out his campaign team roster for the 2010 governor's race.

In a letter to Republican state committee members, Corbett announced ten more top members of his campaign staff - all veterans of Republican campaigns in Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

They are:

Returnees include Brian Nutt who's back as Corbett's campaign manager. He served as campaign manager in Corbett's succcessful bids for attorney general in 2004 and 2008 and Nan McLaughlin, who served as senior advisor in 2004 and 2008 and returns as finance advisor. Also John Brabender, of Brabender Cox, returns as media advisor and Lynda Bowman re-joins Team Corbett as comptroller.

Leslie Gromis Baker, who served as campaign manager for Gov. Tom Ridge's re-election campaign in 1998, signs on as senior advisor and Brian Tringali of the Tarrance Group will serve as pollster for the campaign.

David James of FLS connect (former head of the Republican Committee of Chester County) will serve as strategic advisor for voter contact

Other members of the finance team include Amy Petraglia and Carey Dunn Siriani and Kristin Clark Corrigan. 

On board since March are Bob Asher and Jack Barbour as general co-chairman for Corbett's exploratory committee, C. Alan Walker and Christine Toretti as finance committee chairs, William Sasso and Peter Barcz as chairman and treasurer respectively of the Political Action Committee and Hon. Sandra Schultz Newman as honorary chairwoman of the committee.

Corbett gave no indication of an announcement date, saying only to expect more about his "intentions for seeking the Republican party endorsement and nomination" in the months ahead.

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Surprise. It looks like the 2010 Democratic Senate primary is gonna be a race.

The Inquirer's Tom Fitzgerald reports:

U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak is set to announce one of the worst-kept secrets in politics tomorrow: a Democratic primary challenge to veteran Sen. Arlen Specter in 2010.

Sestak, a retired Navy flag officer, will make a "major campaign announcement" in an 8:30 a.m. appearance before supporters at the Herbert W. Best VFW Post in Folsom, Delaware County.

That will be followed by a two-day tour that will take him to Pittsburgh, Johnstown, Harrisburg, and Scranton before ending Wednesday with an appearance on Comedy Central's Colbert Report.

Sources familiar with Sestak's plans confirmed it is an announcement tour.

Specter, after four decades as a Republican, 28 of them in the U.S. Senate, switched parties in April because, he said at the time, his party had become too conservative for him to win reelection to a sixth term.

Sestak began criticizing Democratic leaders - including President Obama and Gov. Rendell - for anointing the convert as their preferred choice for the party's nomination. He has all but announced since then, traveling the state and stepping up his attacks on Specter's record.
 

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