This week the gubernatorial race was dominated by new ads and new polls.

Don’t expect that to change anytime soon. Nonetheless, there was plenty of news that happened that you may have missed, and if so, you came to the right place.

Corbett

The Corbett camp has been consistently trying to catch their opponent in just the sort of gaffes that their own candidate is always accused of and this week they produced two separate hopefuls.

First, the Corbett-Cawley team distributed a clip of Tom Wolf giving an interview to FOX 43 (the Harrisburg affiliate) in which he was asked about his tax proposals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9Rd9TY8Gh4&feature=youtu.be

In the clip, Wolf was responding to a question about his severance tax proposal and stated that the impact fee was a type of severance tax. This brought howls of protest from the Corbett campaign because Wolf has always insisted that the two are separate and that the impact fee is inadequate.

“It’s nice to see that Tom Wolf disagrees with Tom Wolf’s campaign commercials yet again,” said Communications Director Chris Pack. “Tom Wolf once again is demonstrating that he is willing to say or do anything to fulfill his longstanding political ambition to become governor – including repeatedly contradicting himself. The truth is that Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry has paid over $2.2 billion in taxes and another $636 million from a local impact fee, no matter how much Wolf’s political consultants try to spin it the other way in Wolf’s ads paid for by the Harrisburg special interests.”

Meanwhile, the PA Republican Party attempted to garner controversy over another comment Wolf made in the same interview.

The suggestion that two-income households could file separately to take advantage of an exemption set the PA GOP off.

“It is clear that Tom Wolf has crafted a punitive income tax hike that is a direct attack on Pennsylvania families,” PA GOP Chairman Gleason said. “The addition of a Marriage Penalty tax is the latest scheme centered around raising taxes. It should be no surprise that he wants to force families to search for tax loopholes because he is a loophole expert who pays a tax rate that’s less than half of what middle class Pennsylvanians pay. This is further proof he’s more concerned about growing the size of government regardless of the cost to Pennsylvania families.”

“Wolf’s comments should serve as a warning sign to all Pennsylvanians that Tom Wolf is running to raise their taxes,” he concluded.

The state Republican Party also praised Governor Corbett for his actions concerning the educational program Common Core this week.

“Today, Tom Corbett listened to the voices of Pennsylvanians who want a different direction for their children’s education,” Gleason said. “Today’s announcement serves as proof that Governor Corbett recognizes that children learn best when parent and communities are in control of their children’s education.”

Wolf

Once Corbett released his ad on education on Tuesday, the Wolf campaign tried to counter by attacking the Governor’s record on education.

For example, their campaign sent out a link to an article on the Democratic nominee’s visit to a retirement community which included the comments of a retired (though occasional substitute) teacher.

“It’s affected the classrooms,” teacher Bill Jones said of Corbett’s education policies. “They’re taking away teachers’ aides. They’re taking away teachers. They’re taking away supplies that they need, and technology.”

Finally, Wolf’s PAC FreshStartPA came out swinging against Corbett on the issue of school funding when they posted their own YouTube video.

“Tom Corbett cut $1 billion from our schools resulting in over 27,000 educator layoffs, increases in class sizes, the reduction of important programs, and property tax increases throughout the commonwealth,” they wrote. “Tom Corbett has even admitted that he slashed education funding, but as election day approaches, he’s taken to the airwaves to mislead voters about his failed record.”

Hope you like hearing about education funding and gaffe accusations, because they’ll be plenty more to listen to from now until November 4th.