It was another day of despicable theatre in the Pennsylvania General Assembly Wednesday as the Senate, in full partisan uniform, engaged in another budget-passage charade.

Going in, there was no hope that there would be enough "yes" votes to override spending items vetoed by Gov. Ed Rendell. However, instead of engaging in constructive debate to end the 2009-10 budget impasse, the vote was held anyway amid performances of "The Other Side of the Aisle Is the Villain."

Unfortunately, state residents had no reason to clap when the curtain went down for the day.

Apparently even the Associated Press, beyond reporting on Wednesday's performance, found nothing else to say about what had transpired and what might lie ahead. The AP wire, through 2 p.m. Thursday, had no news on any developments related to the budget impasse.

The state has been without full spending authority since July 1, and there has remained no indication that any substantial progress has been made.

An AP article from Wednesday that was published in Thursday's Butler Eagle indicated that legislators from both parties seemed to be pinning their hopes on closed-door talks between top negotiators to produce a compromise on how to resolve a multibillion-dollar budget gap.

But if those top negotiators are making any progress, they aren't saying so. And that isn't sitting well with those who depend on state funds.

While Butler County government hasn't been forced to take any drastic measures yet in response to the budget impasse, that isn't the case statewide. For example, in Cambria County, President Commissioner P.J. Stevens said Wednesday that the county was withholding some payments to vendors and preparing notices of potential layoffs, due to the lack of progress on the state budget.

Meanwhile, Cambria officials said shorter workweeks would be implemented if initial measures were insufficient to deal with the ongoing failure of lawmakers and the governor to achieve a compromise.

In addition, Stevens mentioned the possibility of an eventual tax increase emanating from the stalement in Harrisburg. It's a possibility that is very real in other parts of the state as well — for counties and school districts.

Pennsylvania should not be subjected to this shameful theatre. Lawmakers and the governor should be able to settle their differences by give-and-take and not subject state services and state financial support to abominable performances such as occurred in the Senate Wednesday — poor performances by lawmakers from both sides of the aisle.

But unfortunately in Pennsylvania government partisanship rules, even regarding much less complex issues. Too bad, at the ballot box, the voters have continued to tolerate it.

The 2005 middle-of-the-night legislative pay-raise vote spawned a voter uprising. This year's budget impasse is worthy of another one.

Achieving compromise on a 2009-10 state spending plan won't be easy, considering the size of the budget shortfall, more than $3 billion. But that's one of the functions of elective office. Political theatre-amid-budget-crisis has no place in the current situation.

Lawmakers and the governor should get off the political stage and do what's expected of them. They're already more than seven weeks past the budget deadline stipulated in the state constitution.

Despite the state's fiscal challenges, both parties could have ended up looking good in the spotlight if they hadn't been so intent on damaging the public perception of the other party.

There's no way lawmakers of either party or the governor will be deserving of plaudits when this despicable example of public service finally ends. They should acknowledge that each day without a budget makes them look worse.

— J.R.K.