January 26, 2010

My name is Joe Hoeffel and I am running for governor to challenge state government to do a better job for the people of Pennsylvania.

I have dedicated my life to public service because I believe it is one of the noblest of professions.  I love this country, and I love Pennsylvania and I want to help create a better future for all of us.

Our commonwealth today has the potential for a great future, but at the same time it faces significant challenges that call for progressive, visionary and bold actions.  This is not the time for conservative or tentative reactions.

Pennsylvania needs a governor who will challenge the way business is conducted in Harrisburg.  A governor who will challenge the legislature to fix itself.  A governor who will challenge our broken budgetary system.  A governor who will challenge the people of Pennsylvania to believe in their state and their future.

I want to lead the Democratic Party to the progressive center of Pennsylvania politics, with a firm commitment to values that are socially liberal and programs that are fiscally responsible.  I will focus relentlessly on creating jobs, improving public schools and expanding health care.

Ronald Reagan was wrong.  Government is not the enemy.  Our government is us.  We need our government to be open, honest and ethical.  We need our government to invest in our future, create opportunity for everyone, and improve the quality of life for all.

I am a principled progressive who does not shy away from what the term progressive means.  A progressive believes in a government that is not afraid to invest in public schools, job creation and health care.  A progressive stands for an open and honest government based on progressive policies, sustainable financing and balanced budgets.

A progressive believes that the most important role of government is fighting discrimination in our society, and there is a great deal of discrimination to fight.  There is discrimination against the sick and uninsured in our health insurance system; discrimination against the unemployed in unregulated business practices;  discrimination against poor women and young women in unfair restrictions on their reproductive freedoms; discrimination against poor children in underfunded public schools; discrimination against poor communities where the worst environmental hazards are placed; and discrimination against people in love from freely marrying regardless of their gender.

Government has an important and active role to play in leveling the playing field and creating opportunities for hardworking families and for the least, the last and the lost among us.

I will fight to create jobs by investing our resources in our people and our communities.  My economic plan calls for creating a better educated and better trained workforce that is better prepared for the jobs of tomorrow.  I will invest state funds in our older communities and downtowns to attract private investments that will create jobs and revitalize communities, as I am doing with our new economic development investments in Montgomery County.  I will comprehensively target state funding for economic development, transportation and open space preservation to improve the quality of life and make this state a wonderful place to live and raise a family.  And, so we have well-trained people to fill these new jobs, I will increase funding for our community colleges where so much job training and career building takes place for those who have been displaced from their jobs.

I will invest in early childhood education and will fully fund the public education funding formula to give every school their fair share of state support and every child a full opportunity to succeed.

With the possibility that our federal government will not produce a health care reform bill, we in Pennsylvania must make sure our residents have expanded health insurance.  Despite the Democratic loss in Massachusetts, I remain totally behind health care reform, and if they can’t do it in Washington, we will do it here in Pennsylvania.  We can meet this challenge and get it done

I trust women to make their own reproductive decisions.  I am the only pro-choice candidate in the campaign for governor, the only one who has consistently fought throughout my career to defend a woman’s right to choose.  And being pro-choice means more than allowing women to control their own bodies, it also means empowering women and trusting them to make their own decisions about their personal wellbeing, their family security and their economic future.  And, it is amazing that I still have to say this in the year twenty ten, but we must have pay equity for women.

I will protect Pennsylvania’s seniors and will fight for reforms to relieve their tax burdens.  I will work to shift school taxes off of property and onto income and ability to pay – and will promote a graduated income tax.

I will protect the environment of Pennsylvania.  I will increase state funding for environmental protection and to renew our Growing Greener commitment to preserving open space, expanding parks and saving farms.  I will stand up to the big gas companies and make them clean up the wastewater from their drilling operations so it meets federal safe drinking water standards before returning it to our lakes and streams.  I will impose an extraction tax on the natural gas industry to fund environmental protection.

I believe we are all equal and our laws should reflect and protect that equality.  I will fight for marriage equality and equal civil rights for all.

I am sick and tired of the legislative gridlock and hyper-partisan obstructionism in Harrisburg.  Our legislative system is broken, and our budgetary process is in tatters. I will lead the fight for an open, honest and transparent Harrisburg.  I will also work constantly to bring competing factions to the table and forge consensus to solve the problems facing our fellow Pennsylvanians.

We must put an end to the slush funds and the WAMS in Harrisburg, and I will veto any bill that includes WAMS or slush funds.  I will work with the legislature to establish a professional, non-partisan Legislative Budget Office to improve the budget process in Harrisburg.  Under a Hoeffel Administration there WILL be ethics reforms and transparency in our government.

All legislators come to Harrisburg with the intention to do the best job possible for the people of Pennsylvania.  The current climate, however, sucks them into the vortex of meaningless partisanship and charge and counter-charge.  This is another challenge I promise to meet head on by challenging our legislative leaders to remember why they came to Harrisburg.  I like legislators – I actually like them – and want to work with them to improve state government.

My sister and I were raised in Montgomery County by two loving parents who served as wonderful role models.  My father was a doctor who worked seven days a week, with many late night emergency calls, healing the sick and sewing up the injured.  My mother taught us that family is everything.  They instilled in us respect for hard work, the value of a strong family and the duty to give back to the community.

I am a lifelong resident of Abington Township, where my wife Francesca and I have raised our children Mary and Jake.  Our children are a product of Abington public schools and Francesca is a school nurse in the Philadelphia school system.

I have served in elected office for 24 years in Norristown, Harrisburg and Washington, D.C. and have worked as hard as I know how to help the people I represent.  I have always fought for public education, economic development, social justice and equality for all, and always within balenced budgets.

Now I want to challenge the voters of Pennsylvania.  I challenge you and appeal to your hopes and dreams, not your fear and anger.  I challenge you to consider not voting for the candidate with the most money, but the person with the best ideas.  I challenge you to believe, as I believe, that Pennsylvania can and should be one of the leading states in this country in creating jobs, educating our children, providing health care for its residents, protecting a woman’s right to choose, protecting the environment and making sure everyone lives free of discrimination.

I’m Joe Hoeffel, and I am THE principled, progressive candidate for governor, and I am ready for the challenge.

Thank you

Tags: Joe Hoeffel

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