Endorsements, responses, agendas…oh my!

The race for the Democratic nomination for Pennsylvania governor continues to escalate as May approaches. Recently 3 candidates announced endorsements, responded to attacks and unveiled a policy platform.

Katie McGinty

After Allyson Schwartz, Rob McCord, Tom Wolf and Ed Pawlowski announced endorsements last week, former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Katie McGinty received two endorsements of her own from state representatives.

In a release this morning, McGinty’s camp announced the support of State Reps. Tony DeLuca (D-Allegheny) and Peter J. Daley II (D-Fayette). The endorsements come from the blue bubble in the predominantly conservative Western side of the state surrounding Pittsburgh.

The two state representatives, who have each been in office for nearly 20 years, lauded McGinty’s record of creating jobs and protecting the environment.

“I worked closely with Katie McGinty when she was DEP Secretary and I saw firsthand her commitment to turning challenges into opportunities that created jobs and strengthened the middle class,” DeLuca said. “Katie will be a terrific governor because she knows how to solve difficult challenges while growing our economy.”

The addition of DeLuca and Daley’s endorsements adds to McGinty’s already-secured support from several environmental leaders, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85 and Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council President Pat Gillespie.

“I look forward to working with Tony and Pete to reverse Governor Tom Corbett’s reckless policies so that we can put Pennsylvanians back to work while restoring Corbett’s devastating education cuts,” McGinty said.

Tom Wolf

Former Secretary of the Department of Revenue Tom Wolf took aim at a statement made by the Marcellus Shale Coalition last week. The MSC knocked his, and other Democratic candidates’, plans to tax Marcellus Shale gas production.

“I believe we all have an obligation to get this new energy era right, and unlike Governor Corbett, I will make sure state agencies tasked with environmental oversight are adequately funded, staffed, and supervised to prevent reckless drilling, and that irresponsible companies are held accountable,” Wolf wrote in a letter to the MSC.

“And I will also make sure that if Texas, Wyoming, Louisiana, New Mexico, West Virginia, and Oklahoma and most other states in the country currently benefit as oil and gas companies cash in on those states’ environmental resources, that Pennsylvania does, too.”

The critical response to the natural gas industry comes months after Wolf pledged $10 million of his own money to his campaign, meaning that the former Revenue Secretary need not rely on the help of Marcellus Shale supporters for fundraising.

John Hanger

Former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection John Hanger has used his record as commissioner of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission as a starting point to explain how he has worked to benefit working families. Now, the candidate is refining his familial stances more by laying out an agenda for women that includes provisions for women’s health care, safety and pay.

“Good policy is crucial to giving women the tools they need to succeed,” Hanger said. “I will work to implement a suite of policies that respond to women’s needs.”

The agenda includes a number of options that would impact men and women alike, including: abortion rights, universal health care, a minimum wage increase, sexual and domestic violence victim protection, an increase in funding for Child Care Works,and more.

“No one should settle for the status of women in Pennsylvania,” Hanger said. “15 percent of women live in poverty; the state throws up barriers to accessing reproductive health care, and there is only one OB/GYN for every 19,656 women in Pennsylvania.”

Hanger’s agenda comes after the Center for American Progress released a report in late September that gave Pennsylvania a C- for the well-being of women. The state ranks 28th in the nation in the same category.