Bill Murray's got nothing on our own Tom Wolf.
That was the governor in Harrisburg on Monday starring in his own version of 'Groundhog Day.' Forget Punxsutawney Phil. Tom Wolf emerged from his governor's mansion burrow, saw his shadow, and immediately predicted six more weeks of budget gridlock - at least.
Actually, what the governor did was present his second budget plan.
He apparently managed to do this with a straight face, seeing as how he has yet to get Republicans in the state House and Senate to agree on his first spending plan for the state.
Wolf believes Pennsylvania is facing severe problems, and he wants a lot more revenue to fix them. To do that, of course, he will need to raise taxes.
Republicans, coming off four years of on-time, no-tax-hike budgets crafted by former Gov. Tom Corbett, have turned up their noses at Wolf's spendthrift ways.
Not surprisingly, they were less than thrilled with Round Two of the Harrisburg budget follies.
The governor again is calling for a hike in the state personal income tax. He again is calling for a new tax on Marcellus Shale. While he is not looking for an increase in the 6 percent sales tax, he does want to tack it on to a lot more services, including your cable TV bill. Smokers aren't as lucky. They're getting burned again with a whopping dollar hike in the cigarette tax.
You can read all the details of the Wolf plan here.
But what stood out Tuesday is the tone the governor took.
He chided Republicans for failing to do their job, and suggested if they were not willing to work with him on a spending plan, they should seek employment elsewhere.
As you might guess, Republicans were less than enamored with his approach.
One went so far as to say talks reverted to where they were last summer.
In other words, don't look for a budget accord - either for Year 1 or Year 2 - anytime soon.
Welcome to Groundhog Day, the Harrisburg edition.
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