Campaigning for governor, Tom Corbett pledged to have state budgets passed on time, something his predecessor, Ed Rendell, did not do. And over the past weekend, state lawmakers did pass a state budget by the June 30 deadline. But just barely — some technical details were dealt with by lawmakers on Monday and Tuesday.

Despite seeing an on-time budget, Gov. Corbett failed to see any of his top three priorities — pension reform, privatization of liquor sales and increased transportation funding — passed by the Legislature.

Corbett put a positive spin on the failure of a Republican governor with Republicans in the majority of the state Senate and House of Representatives to produce on any of his top priorities, saying they can wait for fall.

Granted, lawmakers had a full plate in June, with a looming budget deadline and ongoing negotiations over liquor privatization, transportation funding and pension reform. But the results — or nonresults — from Harrisburg were unimpressive.

Corbett should take a cue from Gov. Pat Quinn of Illinois who has called a special legislation session this summer to deal with that state’s pension crisis. Quinn, a Democrat, faces a pension crisis ranked among the worst in the United States. But Pennsylvania’s $42 billion public employee pension shortfall is a real crisis, and one that will cost taxpayers dearly while also crowding out spending on other things, such as public safety, transportation and education.

State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-12th, blasted Corbett this week for failing to provide leadership on the budget and other issues, including pension reform and transportation funding.

With lawmakers headed home for a two-month summer vacation, most taxpayers (who do not have two month vacations) would see a special legislation session as reasonable. If the spring session, dominated by the June 30 budget deadline was too hectic for lawmakers to tackle so many big issues, then a special session to let them concentrate on pension reform makes sense.

Without the distractions surrounding the state budget, lawmakers could show voters what they can do. Corbett and legislative leaders have been talking about the critical need for pension reform for years.

A special session would let Corbett demonstrate the leadership that Metcalfe claims he failed to deliver in May and June. Corbett could step up and lead — or he might not, which poses a political risk for him.

A special session poses a risk to lawmakers, too, because based on past performance, they might fail to produce a compromise that can be called true pension reform. Past efforts at pension reform just kicked the can down the road.

Lawmakers should be expected to produce a pension reform measure that shields taxpayers to some degree from looming payment spikes to the two major public pension funds. Lawmakers should produce a plan that forces everyone to share the financial pain, including current beneficiaries of the underfunded pension plans — meaning state employees, public school teachers and lawmakers themselves.

Taxpayers should recall that in 2001 state lawmakers voted themselves a 50 pension increase. That action was quickly followed by a 25 percent pension increase for most other state employees and public school teachers after those groups complained that they should get a sweet deal, too.

That unwarranted pension grab is responsible for some, but not all, of the state’s current pension crisis. Lawmakers should admit that it was a mistake to grab the surplus in the pension funds in 2001, and they should require increased payments for all beneficiaries, themselves included, to undo the damage caused by the big benefit increases of 2001.

The just-finished legislative session did produce a budget, but it was disappointing for what it did not produce. A special legislative session would give Corbett a chance to demonstrate leadership, letting voters and taxpayers know that he’s serious about pension reform. And a special session also would let lawmakers concentrate on just one issue and maybe accomplish this summer what they should have accomplished in the spring or in the fall or the pervious year.