Five of the candidates for governor gathered in a small room at the Harrisburg Hilton tonight to appeal to voters in their campaigns for the Democratic nomination.
In attendance this evening were State Treasurer Rob McCord, former Revenue Secretary Tom Wolf, former DEP Secretary Katie McGinty, Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski and another past Secretary of the DEP John Hanger.
John Baer of the Philadelphia Daily News moderated the 90 minute forum, which was hosted by the Future Leaders Section of Pennsylvania Association for Justice.
Candidates fielded questions on electability, education funding, health care and the looming pension crisis.
McGinty gave another strong performance tonight in selling her electability.
“Elections are about choices and distinctions; there’s no confusing me for Tom Corbett,” she joked before explaining that she was the only candidate who was consistently polling well across the state.
But after generalities, this forum allowed for more thorough explanation of policy proposals. The candidates behaved kindly to each other, despite Baer’s invitation to attack.
Baer tried to fish a no-new-taxes pledge out of McCord, but was shut down.
“Tax hikes should always be a last resort, no good candidate should set his hair on hire and ruled it out when he was in the governor’s office,” McCord said. “Don’t rule anything out. We can make savings and close loopholes but we need to do the hard work.”
Believe it or not, the most contentious discussion of the night was about increasing the limits on automobile insurance. The limit hasn’t been raised in 40 years, and every candidate argued in favor of the increase: all but Hanger, who argued that it put an undue burden on workers, especially given the new increase in the gas tax.
On health care, particularly a Medicaid expansion, the candidates agreed that Corbett should have taken the expansion. McCord and Hanger gave the most specific answers here.
“We need to appreciate Medicaid is very efficient for underserved populations. Having actually run things, I have an appreciation for operations,” McCord said, before expanding into longer term plans. “Embrace the quest for research and innovation. We will allow more people to age out in their home with new technologies.”
Hanger used his time to discuss his long term goals in health care policy and argued for a single payer system with universal access.
As in any Democratic forum, the candidates each raced to defend labor unions, imposing an extraction tax and called for changes to the public school funding formula.
Education was the opening topic, but McCord gave holistic responses that brought education into other topics, saying that much of job creation begins with early education. Hanger echoed this statement when he discussed technical job training in high schools that prepared students for employment. But McCord gave another well blended answer when he stated that his administration would create jobs in environmental protection and inspection.
Another big issue was pension reform. Hanger explained the inefficiency of moving from a defined benefit system to a 401k, but Pawlowski gave the best answer when he explained his work in Allentown.
“The fix isn’t easy. We’re going to have to think outside of the box. We were facing a huge problem with our pensions,” he said. “We thought outside of the box, and in some very creative ways, we leased our water and protected the consumers and we protected all of our employees.”
Another candidate who handled the specifics of fiscal policy was Wolf. The former Revenue Secretary also displayed his literary prowess, quoting Voltaire and referencing Buzz Bissinger.
“Pennsylvanians are for an extraction tax. An extraction tax is an exportable tax, it’s the most painless tax you can impose,” he said. “I think the reason we haven’t gotten that passed because we haven’t figured out that’s a painless tax.”
McGinty also discussed how an extraction tax in Pennsylvania isn’t an outlandish goal.
“[My proposal] is based on the West Virginia formula, a little shy of that actually, so there’s no argument about our competitiveness,” she said.
While the debate took some veers into the nitty gritty of tax codes and auto insurance rates, Baer threw everyone a curveball when he asked the candidates what living person working in government, political or service that they admired most. The verdict: Democrats love the Pope.
McGinty, Pawlowski, and Hanger all said the Pope. McGinty and McCord named Bill Clinton. Pawlowski named Democratic governors, and Wolf pointed to York Mayor Kim Bracey.
This wasn’t even the only time that the Pope got attention at tonight’s event. When asked about social issues, McGinty said that she supports marriage equality and is pro-choice; she also agreed with Pope Francis’s take that conservatives have spent too much time on them.
“[The Catholic Church] has been obsessed with these issues instead of focusing on real issues,” she said, before explaining that the government should be more concerned with solving the problems of education funding and job loss.
The other candidates varied very little on social issues, and all argued for marriage equality, common sense gun regulation and none favored regulation on a woman’s reproductive rights.
Hanger clearly painted himself as the most progressive candidate on the podium, in this section and when the legalization of marijuana was addressed.
“I’m calling for a new birth of freedom in PA,” he said. “ I would veto any bill that would hurt a woman’s right to choose. I’ll lead the charge to ban discrimination in LGBT. The 2nd amendment has been ruled to be an individual right, I do support background checks. Violence prevention can work. I am FOR legalizing and taxing marijuana.”
The other candidates supported the legalization of medical marijuana and favored the decriminalization of marijuana. McCord was the only candidate who held back a little on this question, saying that he wanted to further study the risks and examine the legalization in Colorado.
Jo Ellen Litz attended the event, hanging around the back of the room and filming the forum, despite being asked to stop.
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28 Responses
Too bad Kane didn’t get a crack at Paterno.
Revisionist history-
As I understand it, the conclusion was that Paterno did lie and cover-up for Sandusky. Had he not been terminally ill, he should have been prosecuted as an accessory after the fact, for obstruction of justice, and for lying under oath.
David,
In your world are all notable prosecutions are partisan? Do you think Kane should prosecute Paterno if he were alive? Are those your principles you were referring to?
http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/7770996/in-wake-joe-paterno-death-sandusky-sex-abuse-scandal-power-struggle-spread-penn-state-state-capital
now that you mention it-
Well, Sestak’s really a Republican anyway.
But, Paterno had a long history of close association with GOP, and speaking at their convention is just a prominent example.
Rick Santorum honored Sandusky with an Angels in Adoption award in 2002, and his organization was singled out as one of GHW Bush’s “thousands points of light”.
With a guy like Sandusky and all the fundraisers and golf outings his organization did, I’m sure there were plenty of “perks” for politicians getting to mingle and meet rich donors, as well as plenty of Penn State game tickets to grease the wheels.
But, Corbett’s failure to pursue Sandusky is probably the most telling. If Sandusky had been a prominent Democrat, Corbett’s AG office would have been all over him.
The only fed donations on FEC that JoePa made were to his son and $1,000 to Joe Sestak. Nothin for Sandusky.
now that you mention it –
Nope. Both big time Republicans. Paterno was even a speaker at the 1988 Republican National Convention.
Weren’t JoePa and Sandusky registered democrats?
I just speak up for principles (like being against pedophiles). The Dems tend to match my positions. The Republicans, like Corbett, embrace people like Paterno and look the other way for Sandusky.
David, thank you for speaking up for Democrats. If only I could make you a surrogate for your party’s nominee, that would be awesome!
Sue
Critz? He’s more conservative than Corbett.
rocks-
So, you are eager to see the return of a statue honoring a man who spent years covering up the actions of a pedophile? Yep, I can see why you are proud to be a Republican.
@peggy I was with you on McCord but with that loser Koplinski….he can barely be city councilman, if he was worth it why didn’t he run for mayor of Harrisburg… He came out west to our meeting and was horrible…he has no base Dauphin county folk don’t like him…anybody with McCord but that guy Koplinski.
Stack-Alton-Smith-Critz and we win in Nov.
@Me, Thanks for the compliment! I am a Republican. (One of the few who post here). And once Corbett gets the Paterno statue back up, he’s got my vote.
BTW, I wouldn’t count on Schwartz getting newspaper endorsement for Philly Inquirer or other major papers. The other candidates seem far more knowledgeable and prepared on the issues. Her ducking debates isn’t going to help her when she’s interviewed by any editorial review boards that research the questions they ask.
@therocks – It’s people like you that prevent Pennsylvania from achieving even the most moderate progressive reforms with BS like that.
McGinty was very friendly with the fracking industry when she was DEP Secretary. It’s kind of ironic she is running as a pro-environmental candidate.
I’m rooting for Schwartz too. I even keep a website in her honor: http://www.schwartzforgovernor.org
But you guys have fun cutting each other to pieces in the primary.
rock u could beat corbett in november as a matter of fact anybody could..schwartz will come out of philly with such high numbers in may it will be very hard to beat her.i know it hurts alot of people to say governor schwartz.
and corbett calls everybody in pa and tells them to support schwartz for governor.now i see why she is in front of every poll taken so far.i can see why corbett doesnt want to face mccord with his long list of accomplishments as treasure.LOL.
the rocks-
You are right that Schwartz is the candidate Corbett would most prefer as an opponent.
You idiots. Corbett knocks Schwartz to help her through the primary. She’s got negatives that he thinks gives him the best shot in November. (Obama picked his opponent very early in Romney too if you’ll remember). McCord is the silver-tongued, inoffensive, and well-heeled dem that would walk away with a win in a Corbett head to head.
stevinpa-
While Schwartz has some money and a lead in name recognition, both will evaporate as the primary heats up. She has little to offer Dem compared to the other candidates.
McCord and Wolf leave her in the dust academically. McCord has good organizational skills, and Wolf has the money to get his message out. Both have great background stories.
Though less well funded…
Hanger has better appeal to the liberal base both socially and economically. McGinty is far more direct and personable at making a sincere connection with voters.
The question is: what does Schwartz have to offer PA Dems that the other candidates don’t already have?
i agree with steve why is schwartz the only one corbett has something to say about answer internal polling shows she is the one to beat.plus she is the only one who has a voting record.everybody else running says what they are gonna do when elected. schwartz has been fighting for pa residents along time.when you are the front runner everybody takes shots at you.
I attended last night, and any one of the candidates present would be a significantly better governor that our current one. Just to pick one issue of the many discussed, If the public would take time to investigate the science, threats and lack of oversight relating to the gas and oil industry, particularly regarding unconventional drilling (aka shale gas wells),comments here might well be less critical of the candidates who shared their positions at last night’s forum.
Rob McCord and Brad Koplinski in May and November!
@Steve
My HUGE concern over Schwartz is that she is an economic moderate.
There are two ways to be liberal or conservative:
economically
socially
Schwartz is definitely socially liberal. She is for women’s rights and ran a women’s health center (which a small part of their business was abortions).
I don’t think she is economically liberal. Has she ever raised taxes on the rich. She has ties to Third Way. How much money has she taken from Wall Street?
A Democrat should win this seat in November. Why risk electing a social liberal but an economic moderate? If you want a women, is McGinty a safer choice???
Someone respond and inform us because that is my concern over Schwartz!!!!!!!
Corbett knows schwartz will be the nominee thats why they try to bash her on everything she says or does i know alot of people cant imagine a women governor.sorry its gonna happen.mccord continues to come in third on every poll taken so far.i cant see him going negative on Schwartz.that would only increase her victory in may.and david dildo you haven’t been correct in the past and u are way off base again.
Palowski needs no deal. He just got reelected for his third term as mayor of Allentown (but his independent opponent got 40% of the vote, despite Palowski being on both the Dem and Rep tickets). That’s a pretty weak win. Palowski is no threat to anyone in the race. It’s bad enough he’s mayor of Allentown. He shouldn’t get a statewide job to expand/elevate his base of cronies.
The deal that needs to be cut is for the losers to vow to turnover their remaining cash-on-hand to defeat Corbett. Either a direct donation to primary winner, or pooled into an anti-Corbett PAC.
Schwartz is an unappealing candidate who seems uncomfortable on the stage or podium. The more people see of her, the less well she will do. I expect her to come in third.
OK guys…..
The top five are (in no order) Schwartz, McGinty, McCord Wolf and Hanger.
In saying that, some deals need to be cut so people can drop out of the race. Palowski needs to cut a deal to be a revenue secretary, or something. Myers and Litz won’t get on the ballot. Neither will Conline ( if he is still running).
Hangar has $1 million and will get on the ballot. I doubt he wants a cabinet position because he has already had one. Same with McGinty raised $2+ million. Both Schwartz and McCord will fight to the bitter end. I can see those two targeting ads at one another and become embroiled in a bloody primary war. Which could leave the door open for Wolf who can afford to spend a ton of money getting his story out there!