Governor Makes a Mistake!

This just in! (Well, just in yesterday's Philadelphia Inquirer.)

"Budget proposal had error on state library staffing"

Amy Worden, whose story earlier this week caught national and international attention (see posts below), shares the following news with the world:

Apparently, doomsday has not arrived at the historic Pennsylvania State Library.

In his February budget address, Gov. Rendell proposed chopping library funding in half, from $4.84 million to $2.39 million, a steep cut in a lean budget laden with across-the-board reductions.

But yesterday, Rendell said a figure published in his budget proposal that projected a 90 percent staffing reduction was wrong.

Rendell said he would never allow staffing to get to the point where the library would have to close.

He said the library's 50 percent cut would mean a similar staff cut - from 56 to about 28 employees. But more jobs could be preserved if savings can be found in other areas, said his spokesman, Chuck Ardo.

One of Pennsylvania's four major research libraries, the state library was founded in 1745 by Benjamin Franklin. Across the street from the Capitol, it houses the state law and education libraries, and has one of the largest newspaper collections in the country.

State Librarian Clare Zales said she was assessing the role of the library with the goal of trying to balance materials preservation and access.

Nevertheless, she said, with fewer employees, hours and services will be reduced.

Library advocates say there is little doubt the cuts will have a "negative impact" on services such as interlibrary loans and research requests.

"It's not an operation loaded with people sitting around doing nothing," said Glenn Miller, executive director of the Pennsylvania Library Association. He said the smaller cuts would be "clearly a step in the right direction, and we welcome it."

As to the budget book figure, Ardo said, "We are trying to determine exactly where that number originated and how it got into the book."

Can any of you spell "backpedal"?

We all know how much Rendell loves libraries. He would never allow this kind of staff cut. Well, big whoop!

Should we breath a huge sigh of relief? READ THE ARTICLE, folks. Sure, our governor and Chuckles are mystified how the Complement section of the budget message decided (apparently all on its own) to whack 50 or 51 of our staff members. But he's only here going back to 'oh, maybe half of you are headed for unemployment!' I shouldn't think so.

This same article quotes an impartial library advocate (Pennsylvania Library Association executive director) as saying, "It's not an operation loaded with people sitting around doing nothing." You bet. So when half of those busy people are tossed out by the governor's backpedaling budget, the remaining half won't be able to pick up all their work because we're already too busy.

Does anybody else wonder why it took all the way from February 4th to March 6th for the governor to notice such a huge mistake in his budget?

Does anybody else wonder why the Department of Education's human resources folks have also been assuming the 90% staff cut was correct?

Does anybody else wonder what other sorts of retribution the governor will throw at us for exposing this particular budget goof?

Does anybody else wonder whether the announced end-of-March closing of the Resource Center over at the Dept. of Education building will now be un-announced?