Corbett makes stop in Bradford on swing through region

As he entered the Greater Bradford Senior Activity Center, Gov. Tom Corbett’s easy, outgoing attitude with his constituents was evident as he posed for pictures, signed autographs, joked and asked for a cup of coffee.

Corbett spoke to a crowd of more than 100 people at the Campus Drive facility in conjunction with campaign stops made in McKean and Warren counties on Friday. Corbett’s press secretary, Billy Pitman, said the governor was in Pittsburgh on primary election day Tuesday, and since then made stops in Washington and Mercer counties before traveling to the senior center in Bradford followed by a campaign rally in Warren. The governor’s campaigning came on the heals of Democratic gubernatorial nominee Tom Wolf’s win during the primaries. Wolf will now challenge Corbett for the seat in the fall election.

In addition to senior citizens, Corbett’s event was also attended by local dignitaries and elected officials, business people and a group of students from Otto-Eldred High School.

Introducing the governor was state Rep. Martin Causer, R-Turtlepoint, who noted the governor had made stops in McKean County in the past while serving as governor and attorney general.

“And as a Boy Scout,” the governor chimed in from the background.

Causer further noted that when the governor ran for his first term, he made a promise to come into office and get the state’s finances back under control.

“And working with the legislature he’s done just that,” Causer said. “And all four years the governor has been in office, we’ve had an on-time, fiscally responsible budget,” Causer said. “He also pledged to reform welfare and cut waste, fraud and abuse out of our welfare system and he’s done just that.”

In his comments, Corbett told the audience that when he was elected, the state was spending beyond its means. He said prior to assuming the governor’s seat, the country had been in recession in 2007 through 2009, yet the state’s budget kept increasing by a billion a year.

“When I was looking at it, I thought if our children and grandchildren are going to have a good state, we can’t continue to function that way,” he said. With that in mind, he knew he had to make tough decisions that some people wouldn’t like.

Corbett then addressed his critics, noting that his administration cut nearly $1 billion in education spending in his first year in office.

“The prior administration actually cut funds from the state tax collection, or your dollars, from education,” Corbett said of former Gov. Ed Rendell’s administration. He said Rendell replaced money taken from education for state line item projects, and replaced it with federal stimulus funds that was available for two years. Consequently, when the federal stimulus funds had been used, as many as 75 percent of school districts saw a shortfall in funding for their operating budgets, he added.

“So the fiscal year I took office ... we were missing close to $1 billion in federal funds,” Corbett explained. “I made a promise we were not going to raise taxes, and we did not raise taxes; what we did was we tightened down and everybody else tightened down.”

Corbett also commented on his critics’ claim that his administration has caused the loss of a number of public sector jobs. In response, he said there have been 150,000 new private sector jobs created during his term.

“We have a lot of people who were in the public sector who went over to the private sector because they’re better paying jobs,” he said. “And I’d rather have more people in the private sector job ... because who pays for the public sector job” is the taxpayer.

In addition to welfare fraud, Corbett pointed out the trimming of other expenditures that saved state funds, including the reduction of state vehicle fleet by 21 percent at a savings of $50 million. In addition, the state saved more than $600 million through cost-saving measures suggested by state employees.

As for funding revenue for the state, he said the state now ranks second in the nation for its natural gas industry.

“If you’ve been watching TV ads (for Wolf) they would imply that gas corporations don’t pay (taxes) but folks, they do,” he said. “The corporate income tax has a three-pronged formula” that taxes sales and assets. As a result, he said natural gas companies and related industries typically pay $2 billion in taxes annually.

Following his comments the governor took several questions from the audience that included inquiries on continued “Special Care” insurance coverage for seniors, other health care costs and funding for the Pre-K Counts program for school districts throughout the state. Corbett said that he was uncertain of the answers for the questions as the budget has not been completed, but would attempt to obtain answers for the questions.

In concluding his talk, Corbett told the audience, “I may get re-elected, I may not get re-elected, but I’ve had a great career,” Corbett said.

Read the article online HERE.

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