Corbett, Wolf joust over taxes
HERSHEY — Taxes, state government finances and education policy dominated the first debate in the Pennsylvania governor’s race Monday night, as Republican Gov. Tom Corbett sought to raise questions about the viability of Democrat Tom Wolf’s policy goals and Wolf attacked Corbett’s handling of the economy and schools.
Corbett cast himself as the candidate who will resist increasing government spending and repeatedly questioned where Wolf would find the money to raise the state’s share of public school spending to 50 percent, plus meet other priorities.
“So the question is, ‘how do you tax? Where do you get the money? What is going to be fair?’ And honestly, I think it is time that Mr. Wolf shared his plan,” Corbett said.
For his part, Wolf sought to frame Corbett as failing to capably steer the state’s economy and government finances, while he cut critical funding for public schools. To burnish his credentials, Wolf continually referred to his experience heading his family’s York-based building products business for nearly three decades as evidence he can invigorate the state’s economy and heal government finances.
“We aren’t doing as well as we should do and I think we need to look at that and say, ‘this is what we need from our state government, to set the table for robust economic growth,”’ Wolf said.
Corbett, Pennsylvania’s former two-term attorney general, denied cutting aid to public schools — he blamed it on his predecessor, Democrat Ed Rendell — and said he had lived up to his promise to pursue limited government and fiscal restraint. He pointed out he had instituted methods to better track the performance of schools and educators to underscore his argument that ensuring money is well spent is more important than how much is spent.
Education spending, he said, “has to be an investment, not just how much can we spend.”
The fast-paced 45-minute event was held in front of a packed Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry dinner in Hershey. Candidates were asked by moderator Dennis Owens of WHTM-TV in Harrisburg to answer questions in one minute. At times, they were allowed to rebut each other.
Wolf is heading into the final weeks of the campaign with a cash edge and a hefty polling lead that Corbett has been unable to crack. A Wolf victory in the Nov. 4 election would break a four-decade tradition of governors succeeding themselves with a second term.
