Welcome to the not-so-wonderful world of politics, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf.

It took 18 months for the novice businessman from York County to get the message, but his recent announcement proved that he has returned from a fantasyland in outer space and back to reality.Earlier this week, Wolf dropped proposals to increase the state income and sales taxes to boost funding for education, one of the most important promises of his campaign that is widely believed to have gotten him elected in 2014 over incumbent Republican Tom Corbett.With all of the state House and half of the state Senate seats up for grabs this year, many legislators view voting for higher taxes in an election year as political suicide. Besides, Republicans already are facing the unpredictability of what might happen on Nov. 8 by having a loose cannon in the form of presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump at the top of their ticket.Wolf laid out his priorities in a statement earlier this week, saying that he plans to increase basic education aid by $250 million and ask for $34 million to combat the opioid overdose epidemic that is sweeping the state. "I think we can do all this without a broad-based tax increase," Wolf said. In his budget address in February, Wolf proposed raising the state income tax from 3.04 to 3.4 percent, saying it was the only logical way to fund education properly and to deal with the deepening budget deficit.This stunning reversal brought cheers from Republicans and Democrats alike. Members of his own party breathed a sigh of relief that they don't have to pretend to support a major tax increase in a difficult election year when they are hoping to make some gains in the General Assembly. Republicans have a 120-83 lead in the House of Representatives and a 31-19 ratio in the Senate.House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Pittsburgh, welcomed the governor's withdrawal of his tax proposal, but House Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana, is not sure that Wolf's $250 million proposal will fly either. Wolf had originally wanted more than $360 million to shore up some of the penny-pinching funding for education that went on during the Corbett years. Wolf had to cave in to get an agreement with this year's budget, so education funding is nowhere near where Wolf or educators want it, but being at the mercy of a Republican stranglehold in both houses, Wolf has seen the political light: He can continue jousting at imaginary windmills or try to compromise and come away with some crumbs.With an agreement due by June 30, legislators and the governor are facing the prospects of yet another late state budget. Who can forget the fiasco that occurred in trying to pass the 2015-16 budget, which finally went into law just three months ago, some nine months late?House GOP leaders are trying to line up support for tobacco tax increases and expanded gambling to generate revenue to plug the budget deficit. When all else fails, turn to the reliable "sin taxes."A chastened Wolf has learned the hard way that running a business and running a state are worlds apart. In his February budget address, Wolf alluded to his business background. "If you're in business, and the numbers don't add up," he said, "you can't ignore the problem, or spin it, or wish it away. You have to take a clear-eyed look at how the problem arose, and then you have to solve it. And fast. Or you won't be in business very long."With the state facing a nearly $2 billion deficit, the Legislature and the governor have come nowhere close to solving the problem. The numbers don't add up, and both sides have spun things to make themselves look good. Of course, they don't look good. Polls show Pennsylvanians have great disdain for the job our state leaders are doing.Back in February, Wolf tried to play hard ball with Republicans. Here is what he told them in his budget address: "If you won't face up to the reality of the situation we're in, if you ignore that time bomb ticking, if you won't take seriously your responsibility to the people of Pennsylvania, then find another job."Well, you can imagine how that went over, and many Republicans vowed then and there to make Wolf eat those words.Pass the salt, please.By Bruce Frassinelli |

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