You remember how the media used to refer to Karl Rove as Bush's brain? Well, there's a similar official in the Rendell administration.

Budget Secretary Michael J. Masch is leaving to take a job as chief business officer for the Philadelphia School District. (Masch spent eight years with Rendell in Philadelphia, then followed Rendell to Harrisburg.)

Another sure sign that Gov. Ed Rendell is a lame duck: The man who has done much of the heavy lifting for Rendell since 2003 is bailing out.

Masch has been the architect of Rendell's fiscal policies for the past five years. Rendell admitted so much in a press releasing announcing Masch's departure.

"He was integral to framing the initiatives of this administration," Rendell said.

Rendell credited Masch with driving down the cost of operating state government "by more than $1.5 billion, with most of these savings coming from groundbreaking new ways to manage our Medicaid and related welfare resources."

Rendell neglected to mention the $7 billion in new state spending, plus billions in new taxes and billions in new borrowing.

Can Masch turn around the financially troubled Philadelphia School District? Unlikely. He won't have unlimited funding to tap into like he did in Harrisburg and Rendell's influence is growing weaker by the day.

And what about the 2008-09 state budget? I suspect Masch saw the handwriting on the wall a long time ago. The Rendell budget is DOA. It will never get through the GOP-controlled state Senate.

Masch is getting out while the getting is good. Expect more of Rendell's top staffers to jump ship... especially as rumors continue to swirl about Rendell taking a job in the next Democratic presidential administration.