Corbett Called Out – Again – For Being Wrong on Facts, Light on Substance

With the stakes high for Pennsylvania, the GOP nominee continues to underwhelm
 
PITTSBURGH: Harrisburg Republican Tom Corbett – a politician who famously dislikes being challenged – must be having a tough few days, with news outlets from across the state pointing out that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
 
“Pennsylvania will choose its next Governor four weeks from today,” said Onorato Communications Director Brian Herman. “The state faces a lingering recession, a massive deficit, a dysfunctional political system and policy challenges from education to health care to infrastructure. But Tom Corbett either doesn’t know or doesn’t care enough to seriously address these issues.”
 
Corbett’s latest attack ad has been roundly dismissed as bogus.  Today’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette criticizes it for a “dubious claim” and the bias behind what the paper describes as “not exactly an objective source” behind one allegation in the commercial. While Corbett’s ad attacks Onorato in order to defend the GOP nominee’s big oil and gas donors, the Post-Gazette notes that this position even “puts him at odds with state leaders of his own party….” [10/5/2010]
 
And the attention is not just focusing on politics, but also on Corbett’s disregard for coherent or mainstream policy.
 
At last week’s gubernatorial debate, Corbett proposed a $3 billion tax hike on Pennsylvania workers. During the debate, Corbett said this “payroll tax” increase was the best way to address the state’s unemployment compensation fund debt. But afterwards, Corbett said the additional money that he would require every worker to pay is not a tax – it’s just a mandatory “contribution.”
 
Interviewed yesterday by KDKA-TV political editor Jon Delano, Corbett “insist[ed] twice, ‘It is a contribution. It is not a tax.’” [10/5/2010] As Delano noted, “When is a tax really a tax?”
 
And while supporting this $3 billion tax on Pennsylvania workers, Corbett has adamantly opposed requiring Big Oil & Gas to pay for the costs of oversight, environmental protection and road repairs caused by the industry through a severance tax like every other major gas-producing state already has. Corbett would rather Pennsylvania taxpayers pick up the bill.
 
In an editorial titled “Corbett should put citizens first,” the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader called on the Republican nominee to side with the taxpayers (and even the Senate Republican leadership and the 12 House Republicans who voted for a severance tax last week). The newspaper asked: “Is Tom Corbett interested in carrying the water of the gas-drilling industry or protecting Pennsylvania’s waterways?”
 
Meanwhile, the Post-Gazette editorial board joined with newspapers across the state to focus on another of Corbett’s weaknesses: his eagerness to lead the fringe of his party instead of closing a loophole that allows Pennsylvanians to receive a permit to carry a concealed weapon from the Florida Department of Agriculture – even when Pennsylvania law enforcement officials deny or revoke their permit.
 
As Attorney General, Corbett has the power to close the loophole with 30 days notice – ending the outsourcing of public safety to Florida.  So will Corbett answer the editorial board’s questions: “How about it, Mr. Corbett?…  Do you think the Florida Department of Agriculture should second-guess rulings made by Pennsylvanians?”