Last week Gov. Corbett and his legislature reaffirmed their close friendship by announcing they had hammered out a budget for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
When we say "his legislature," we mean of course the Republican majority. Democrats were not included in the talks, since, while they may bluster and complain, they really have little power to do anything about it.
The governor's people and the Republican movers and shakers emerged from their several days of closed-door meetings and proclaimed "all is well."
The lawmakers get the coinage they were going to toss to the state's struggling educational system from unexpected revenues received by the Department of Revenue, and Royal Dutch Shell gets a bye on more than a billion dollars in taxes, which it can revert to cash by selling the credits to other companies.
Yes, the well-oiled government machine that is Pennsylvania government is chugging along once again. Rumors of some dissention in the ranks were quickly quelled by House and Senate leaders who hammered out the deal and will dictate it to the anxious rank and file over the following several days.
In the end the ranks of unemployed educators will rise only marginally, since the education budget is essentially flat compared to the current fiscal year. And, a huge and very profitable Netherlands-based company can testify that it has a friend in Pennsylvania named Tom.