By Alex Roarty
PoliticsPA
roarty@politicspa.com

Update: Tuesday, 12:45 p.m.: During an appearance on a Philadelphia morning news program Wednesday morning (watch the complete video below, comments in question occur at 5:15), Corbett again denied he had re-iterated his controversial comments about unemployment benefits.

“Good Day Philadelphia” anchor John Anderson asked the GOP gubernatorial nominee if his comments about the large number of want-ads were evidence he thought many people are choosing to retain their unemployment benefits instead of seeking work.

“No, I didn’t say it that way at all,” Corbett responded before reiterating that he also supported extending the federal unemployment benefits if it didn’t add to the debt.

The candidate’s spokesman, Kevin Harley, said Corbett’s comments reported in The Inquirer came after he was asked whether any jobs were available.

“I think what he was trying to say was obviously there are some jobs available because there are help-wanted ads, but the point he’s trying to make is there aren’t nearly enough available,” said Harley, adding that even many of the ones available require special skills that most don’t possess.

Corbett is running for governor to create a business environment that will create more jobs, the spokesman said.

The Onorato campaign, as it has done vigilantly since the controversy began earlier this month, criticized Corbett’s remarks, arguing that the attorney general still thinks “the jobs are there. “A spokesman for the Democrat said the Republican’s comments haven’t changed since he first made them in March.

“To say that there are jobs there because there are want-ads is consistent with what he said before,” said Onorato spokesman Brian Herman, adding that the clarification provided by the campaign later doesn’t help. “… The one thing that is absolutely clear from all these comments is that Tom Corbett doesn’t understand how the economy works and he’s incapable of solving a problem that he doesn’t recognize.”

The campaign highlighted Corbett’s appearance on the Fox station in a press release early Wednesday.

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Just weeks after his controversial comments about unemployment benefits, Tom Corbett briefly revisited the controversy with reporters Tuesday when he pointed out how many help-wanted ads are running in newspapers across the state.

“Are there jobs out there? … How would you interpret that?” he asked reporters, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The Republican gubernatorial nominee added: “You guys asked me if there are jobs out there. If I am a common citizen, the average citizen, and I look at a newspaper … and I see jobs – what’s the answer to that question.”

But Corbett, who spoke after a campaign appearance in Delaware County, then said he wasn’t implying the unemployed were taking advantage of benefits to the detriment of finding a job. He told reporters that those comments were in the past and he’s now focused on helping the state create jobs.

Still, it’s a puzzling statement for the gubernatorial front-runner to make after only recently emerging from a controversy that simmered for weeks. His earlier remarks, which his campaign began distancing itself from almost immediately, brought scorn from editorial boards statewide and gave Democratic nominee Dan Onorato by far his most potent ammunition of the race.

The Onorato campaign pounced once again almost immediately.

“Tom Corbett still doesn’t get it,” Onorato said in a statement. “Pennsylvania needs a Governor who can get our economy back on track, and Tom Corbett’s remarks prove once again that I am the only candidate with the understanding, the experience and the plan to turn this economy around.”