Democrat Ed Rendell, the barrel-bodied governor with the husky voice and knack for rhetorical persuasion, inspires both support and distrust among legislators from Lancaster County.

Three of those local legislators will have prominent voices in how Rendell's recently proposed budget will eventually look when it's scheduled for legislative approval this summer:

The ag expert

Republican state Sen. Mike Brubaker of Warwick Township is often looked upon as the legislative guardian to the state's agriculture budget. He's been, after all, chairman of the Senate Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee for more than two years and someone who before becoming a legislator made a career advising those who tilled the land and raised livestock.

Rendell proposed Wednesday a 10.8 percent reduction — a nearly $10 million cut — in state agricultural spending. Programs Rendell is looking to slash include research into food and livestock diseases; conservation district funding; and crop insurance, among other line items.

Many eyes in the state's agriculture community are looking to Brubaker for help. The problem is there may not be funding in the state coffers to restore those proposed cuts fully.

"We're going through a recession that some people are comparing to 1929, of monumental proportions is this crisis the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is under," Brubaker said, referring to the $1.1 billion shortfall in tax revenue the state has collected to this point.

Brubaker, like all other rank-and-file legislators, answers media questions after having just a few hours to digest the governor's proposals. He said he's largely in the dark about what Rendell has in mind when he calls for certain cuts.

"Before I advocate for increased spending, I need to understand this budget and take that understanding to the people and have them communicate to me what budget reductions are going to do to their agriculture work," Brubaker said. "And then I'll act."

The freshman

State Sen. Lloyd Smucker sits for the first time beneath the ornately painted ceiling of the state House, where a joint session of the General Assembly listens to Rendell deliver his budget address.

As ornate as the ceiling is, so too are Rendell's proposals: legalized video poker gambling for college tuition aid, a commission to look at school district consolidation, new tobacco taxes, expanded adult health care coverage and so on.

The freshman senator from West Lampeter Township said he is ambivalent about the experience.

"It was good to hear he was willing to make cuts in certain areas," Smucker said, referring to the 100 programs Rendell proposes to eliminate. "But the talk about new taxes and raising revenue from new sources don't make a lot of sense to me in this economic climate."

The first challenge of Smucker's legislative career to defend his legislative district is laid out before him. Rendell proposes cutting $2.2 million from the Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology, which is in Lancaster city.

Smucker, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee with Brubaker, said he's perplexed as to why Rendell would propose such a cut, because Stevens offers vocation education.

"That school impacts so many things he talks about," Smucker said. "I just don't understand."

One thing Smucker said he's learning is patience because in lawmaking, everything takes time.

"It's daunting. It really is," Smucker said. "Having come from a business background in which I could make decisions quickly, now I'm one of 26 votes we're going to need in the Senate and 102 in the House and the governor to get anything done. It's not making decisions in a vacuum."

The seasoned conservative

State Rep. Katie True of East Hempfield said she isn't in a trusting mood when it comes to Rendell.

"It all sounds like it might work, but I'm just not convinced," True, an East Hempfield Township Republican, said as the GOP House Caucus finishes huddling over legislative strategy. "Before we go to new taxes and talk about additional spending, why aren't we still working on paring down programs?

"I'm not convinced we have looked as hard as we should have."

True is a nine-term veteran of the state House and a member of the House Appropriations Committee, which puts her at the forefront of the budget process. She's joined on the Appropriations Committee by fellow GOP member Rep. Gordon Denlinger of Narvon.

True said she's particularly miffed at how Rendell is holding some legislators "hostage" by cutting programs such as New Options, a job training program, at YWCA.

It's a negotiating tactic, she said.

"Then we have to go and beg and cry," True said. "He holds you hostage with these programs. He holds you hostage to bring you onboard and get you to agree to something."

E-mail: dpidgeon@lnpnews.com