It's mid-July, and we're no closer to the governor and state Legislature agreeing on a budget than we were in mid-June ... or mid-May, or mid-April, or mid-whenever.

In fact, the battle over the state budget has turned into an election-style campaign pitting the Republican-controlled Legislature against Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. And it looks as though both sides are digging in for a long fight.Wolf's budget plan unveiled in March incorporated many of the proposals he had campaigned on in his race against former Gov. Tom Corbett: a 5 percent severance tax on the natural gas industry with proceeds targeted toward public education; an increase in the sales and income tax; and a reduction in property taxes.Republicans rejected every point of that plan and approved a budget just before the June 30 deadline that called for no tax increases, a plan to privatize the state liquor store system and some creative accounting procedures to balance the budget.Much to no one's surprise, Wolf rejected that budget and called for renewed negotiations, which so far have gone nowhere. Instead, we have a battle of philosophies playing out across the state as both sides attempt to rally public support.The political action committee America Works USA, an offshoot of the Democratic Governors Association, began sending out mailers to constituents of local Republican legislators Jim Christiana, R-15, Beaver, and Jim Marshall, R-14, Big Beaver claiming that they are standing in the way of Wolf's proposed budget "that restores education funding, reduces property taxes, and makes gas drillers pay their fair share ..."Christiana and Marshall responded by saying the mailers have only served to galvanize opposition to the Wolf budget among their constituents.Christiana further accused Wolf of "the ultimate publicity stunt" by vetoing the entire state budget, rather than using his authority to veto certain items.There's no small measure of political hypocrisy in that claim, considering that the Republicans passed a budget that they knew full well would never be approved by the governor.So if you're keeping score in the Harrisburg Publicity Stunt Games, the governor and Republican legislators are tied at 1-1.Lost among all this was a cry from the wilderness, if you will, from Republican state Rep. Eugene DiGirolamo of Bensalem who proposed what he called a "middle-of-the-road" budget.DiGirolamo broke ranks with fellow Republicans and proposed a plan in which state taxes and spending, including education aid, would rise, but by less than what the governor wants and by more than what Republicans approved in the rejected budget.His reasoning was fairly simple: "We've got to start throwing ideas out there or we're not going to get this done," he said.DiGirolamo's proposal will, undoubtedly, face criticism from both sides, but give him credit for at least understanding that nothing will happen unless everyone agrees on some important compromises.Let's hope his thinking takes hold among others in Harrisburg.Beaver County Times