In Pennsylvania, politics has devolved into serial hostage-taking. The latest group under the gun are state employees. Gov. Rendell
threatened Thursday (Dec. 17) to lay off 1,000 state workers if the legislature fails to act on a bill to expand gambling to include table games. The deadline is Jan. 8, according to the governor, who fulminated at a Harrisburg news conference. The state needs the money expanded gambling will bring in to balance the state budget for this year. (You may remember that 100-day disaster.) For a while, the state's large universities were being held hostage, as the legislation to provide them with their usual dose of state aid languished in the General Assembly. But, those hostages were freed when the aid bills finally passed. New ones were needed. So, state employees were asked to put on blindfolds and please step forward.
