Tom Wolf states his case

There's nothing quite like picking up the phone on a dreary Tuesday afternoon and being greeted with this message:

"Hi, Phil. This is Tom Wolf."

No, it was not a recording.

And it wasn't a fake. The governor was calling, even if he didn't identify himself as such.

I kind of like the idea that Wolf didn't use his title when he greeted me. He campaigned on the idea of being a "different" kind of governor. Well, this unannounced phone call certainly qualifies as that.

I'd like to think Wolf specifically decided to call me to chat. My guess is that he was doing likewise with newsmakers and opinion shapers across the state.

Not surprisingly, he wanted to talk about the state budget. Or rather the lack of one. Wolf has been locked in a standoff with Republican leaders since last summer, unable to agree on spending and the revenue (read tax hikes) to pay for what the governor wants.

Last week, Wolf went through the charade of presenting a new budget, this despite the fact that his initial proposal is still being batted around Harrisburg.

But Wolf did something else. He struck something of a defiant tone, chiding Republican legislators and suggesting if they were not interested in doing their jobs, they might want to seek employment elsewhere.

The first thing I asked Wolf was if he regretted the tone - and what some criticized as more harsh political rhetoric - he used in the speech.

I have some bad news for Republicans who recoiled at the governor's comments and suggested they weren't helping the process. He's not backing off.

Wolf is not blinking. In fact, he repeated it.

The governor believes Pennsylvania - and Republicans in both the House and Senate - need a reality check. He believes it is time for the Keystone State to confront the ugly truth of its fiscal health, which is not good.

"What I was saying is that this is the truth," Wolf said of his spending plan, which once again calls for a series of tax hikes, including a new levy on the state's now less than robust Marcellus Shale business, and an increase in the personal income tax, as well as making more items applicable to the state sales tax.

"Folks, we have a hard task here," is how Wolf summed up the situation.

Here's something else what probably won't come as a surprise.

Wolf is going to have a very hard time getting what he wants from the Legislature.

Part of that is because while the state backed him (some would argue they voted against Republican incumbent Tom Corbett), at the same time they actually were expanding Republican majorities in both the House and Senate.

Wolf is well aware that he is operating under a divided government, and he specifically says he does not feel he was handed any special mandate by Pennsylvania voters

. What he was handed is what he calls several fiscal time bombs.

Actually, the governor intimated that he probably could have managed to get by in the 2015-16 budget with a few patches and other cosmetic fixes to address what he says is a $500 million deficit.

The same does not hold true for the budget he presented last week for 2016-17. He says the state's deficit is set to balloon to somewhere north of $2.2 billion.

He believes his spending plan shows a sense of "urgency" needed to address the state's fiscal woes.

He is urging everyone to buy in - including Republicans in Harrisburg. He again is pushing for increases in aid to education to address the state's ranking of 45th in the nation in terms of share of education spending.

He is the first to admit this is a "huge philosophical shift."

And he closed the call with a new challenge to Republicans.

"I'm making the case as clear as I can," Wolf said. "Now is the time for this to happen."

He probably could have said the same thing last July.

My guess is that he's going to be saying for awhile longer.