Former Erie County Executive and current candidate for Lt. Governor Rick Schenker chimed in this week with this interesting take on the state budget process.

We need to remember what Ronald Reagan said: “The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program.”

This is the annual dance between the propaganda machines of the Democrats and Republicans. It’s like a reoccurring nightmare. Rendell and the Democrats in the House are saying that cuts made in the Republican Senate version of the budget are too deep—too many people will be hurt. The Republicans are saying the democrats have been on a spending frenzy under Rendell who want to increase taxes to pay for more government programs. Unfortunately, both are right.

In the end, we will probably see the Republican controlled Senate give in to Rendell and the Democrats to two reasons: The first reason is it time for legislators to go on summer break. Just like high school kids—they don’t want to stay around all summer. Rendell has the upper hand on this one saying he would hold out until Labor Day if necessary. The second, and more important, reason is that neither Republicans nor Democrats want to be responsible to their constituents for the cuts in government programs.

Once a government program exists it builds up a following of people that cry foul as soon as they try to cut it. In many cases these are good programs that help a lot of people, and it really does hurt when they are cut. As an example, I serve on the board of a small private school. Board members received an urgent email that funding of the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program was in jeopardy. The program gives scholarships to families in need, and this year the need is greater due the economy and job losses.

The tough part for legislators is that constituents in their districts don’t want their programs cut, but neither do they want their taxes raised either. So legislators will continue to fill the budget hole like they did last year with one-time sources of funding (which creates a deeper hole next year), or they will need to look for new sources of revenue.

My guess is that the Senate Republicans will throw up their hands by the second or third week in July and say, “that’s it, we did all we could.” They will then go home to tell the story of how they tried to stop Fast Eddie Rendell and his insatiable need for more money. Then they will put out lots of taxpayer-funded mailers to take credit for saving the pet projects important for their constituents.