Drastic and Disco.
These are the names of the two most recent ads released by Democrat incumbent Gov. Wolf and GOP candidate Scott Wagner.
Both candidates are on the offensive highlighting education and big business in their most recent television jabs.
Wolf has been on television for quite some time now and released his first attack ad over two weeks ago labeling his opponent as the “number one champion of big oil and gas”.
Wagner has returned fire in an 30 second ad released this morning labeling Gov. Wolf’s plan for public education as “drastic”.
“Despite campaigning as someone who would be an ‘Education Governor’ in 2014, Tom Wolf has been a disaster for public schools in Pennsylvania,” said Wagner campaign manager Jason High. “For three straight years the Governor failed to approve a single dollar for education, and now he’s pushing for a plan that would bring unsustainable cuts upon suburban and rural schools. Scott Wagner has voted for more education funding increases than Tom Wolf has ever signed, will be a true champion for our students and will stand firmly against the Governor’s education cuts, which are so unconscionable that even members of his own Party are speaking out against them.”
Education has been at the forefront of this race for the past month. Both candidates have accused the other of wanting to severely cut funds for public education. Both campaigns have adamantly denied these claims.
The most recent attack 30 second attack ad from the Wolf campaign was released last week and channels a 1980’s disco theme to accuse Wagner of longstanding relationships with big businesses in Harrisburg.
“Scott Wagner is the ultimate Harrisburg insider. He’s been doing business with Harrisburg for over 35 years,” said Beth Melena, Gov. Wolf’s campaign communication director. “He has protected big oil and gas from paying their fair share and has voted to let Wall Street charge excessive fees on retirement savings. He’s also opposed closing loopholes for giant corporations. He’s the very worst of Harrisburg.”
It’s a strange turn of events for Wagner, who for years has run as an outsider against the system. In 2014, he was elected to the state Senate through a write-in campaign. Prior to that, he spent years funding efforts to help conservatives win GOP primaries for State House and Senate – sometimes over incumbent Republicans.
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7 Responses
Of the two ads, Wagner’s is easily more effective.
I think everyone can agree that *starting* a business isn’t as good as *maintaining* a business. If you were arguing that simply starting a business made someone qualified for governor, there’s tons of hair salons and tattoo parlors that fall under that definition.
But I’m going to consider that you’re promoting Wagner because he was a successful businessman. Not simply one that started a business.
Guess what? So was Tom Wolf. Or did you decide to completely ignore his biography in your criticism?
Wagner made a fortune hauling garbage; thinks he can campaign the same way.
At least come with the facts, we’ve had hold-harmless provisions in previous education budgets that have propped up school districts with declining enrollment at the expense of school districts with growing enrollment, like Philly. Philly is getting shortchanged while other districts get more than they’re worth. How about justifying why these shrinking school districts “need” the same amount of money every year to teach fewer and fewer kids?
Nothing about starting your own business qualifies you to be governor, sorry. This isn’t Shark Tank. Tom Wolf has the government experience and has produced four years of good results. It’s time to give him four more. Scott Wagner is a one-trick pony with no new ideas and a disturbing amount of Trumpism in his political blood. Hard pass.
If Tom Wolf were an enthusiastic, ideological politician I would actually respect him. He just does nothing. The things that he does do like this school funding idea are just absolutely terrible. Schools need help in Philly, agreed. But taking that money from other districts that need it too makes absolutely no sense.
What we need is someone who actually has started his own business, someone who can cut the wasted spending within the education system and get it working for the kids that go through it. Scott Wagner is 20x better than Tom Wolf.
Yeah, Right-To-Work @$3.00 an hour is soo much better too.
At least come with the facts, we’ve had hold-harmless provisions in previous education budgets that have propped up school districts with declining enrollment at the expense of school districts with growing enrollment, like Philly. Philly is getting shortchanged while other districts get more than they’re worth. How about justifying why these shrinking school districts “need” the same amount of money every year to teach fewer and fewer kids?
Nothing about starting your own business qualifies you to be governor, sorry. This isn’t Shark Tank. Tom Wolf has the government experience and has produced four years of good results. It’s time to give him four more. Scott Wagner is a one-trick pony with no new ideas and a disturbing amount of Trumpism in his political blood. Hard pass.