Hey, Harrisburg, don't pound sand, stand in it!

THERE'S A PHRASE floating around Harrisburg: "Keep your feet in sand." Has nothing to do with being "down the Shore."

Has to do with positions lawmakers and Gov. Corbett might want to take on liquor privatization, transportation funding, pension reform and passage of a new state budget by month's end.

It's good advice. Compromise. Be less rigid. Get something done.

That way shifting elements within issues could lead to a budget, liquor reform, fixes for transportation and mass transit, and savings on pension costs.

Or. Nothing.

Corbett could go 0-for-3 on booze, roads and pensions; get another on-time budget but no part of his bold agenda.

This is entirely possible. In the Capital City, ineptness is an art form.

It's also possible the guv gets parts of one thing, maybe two (something on booze, something on roads), by refusing to sign a budget without either.

Could he do that?

Yep. Needs a win. A win can boost bad poll numbers and end a run of losses.

What losses?

Lottery privatization, tossed by the attorney general; legal challenge to NCAA/Penn State sanctions, thrown out by a federal court; right-to-know fight with the Associated Press over his schedule, lost in a state court.

But why is it so hard for a GOP governor to get wins in a GOP legislature?

Two reasons: Corbett's never dealt well with the Legislature (except when he was putting its leaders in prison), and our Legislature's bicameral and bipolar.

For example: The GOP Senate bravely and overwhelmingly just approved pumping billions of dollars into road and bridge repair and mass transit, such as SEPTA.

Creates jobs, sparks the economy, attacks the infrastructure problem.

But GOP House Leader Mike Turzai says that transportation "has not been a House priority."

Why? Because Turzai falls to the ground, chews wood and froths at the mouth at any suggestion of higher fees or taxes. He doesn't keep his feet in sand.

The Senate bill hikes drivers-license fees from $29.50 every four years to $50.50 every six; registration goes from $36 annually to $104 for two years; and gas prices jump when a wholesale-cost cap is lifted.

Estimates are that the average driver would pay about $135 more per year - assuming no speeding tickets with $100-a-pop surcharge fees.

Even Corbett wants a big-fix transportation bill. And I assume he'll dance around his campaign pledge not to raise taxes or fees by saying something like, "I'm not raising new taxes or fees."

But there are those in the House who (a) won't vote for any more spending and (b) fear future campaign ads saying, "Rep. So-and-so is the reason you pay more to drive your car."

Plus, despite the fact that transportation is the only big issue with bipartisan backing, it's also knotted with booze.

Getting Turzai to move on transportation hinges on giving him a liquor bill that does more than modernize the current system; the problem is that the Senate is more interested in modernization than privatization.

Again, two chambers, two views.

Pensions?

Complicated, hugely controversial and certain to draw litigation. So you tell me.

Harrisburg prefers procrastination, regardless of cost.

Had Corbett pushed transportation in his first year, when he had political capital, he'd be cutting ribbons now, taking credit for job-creating projects.

Had the Legislature ever seriously addressed pensions - other than voting to increase benefits - we'd have more revenue for stuff other than pensions.

If lawmakers had continuously improved state stores during a gradual phase-out of the monopoly, the issue wouldn't be clogging the overall budget process.

But no. Our capital is a place where ideas and ideologies are hard-set in cement. And what we need - to get things done - are people willing to stand in sand.