"Millionaire Secretary Tom Wolf continues to not have answers when he steps out from behind his television ads and actually has to address legitimate questions on issues facing the Commonwealth. Secretary Wolf is not being asked unreasonable questions by the media – he is simply being asked questions that any governor would be expected to answer. It’s time for Secretary Tom Wolf to stop denying our state’s pension crisis and stop being influenced by $1.1 million in campaign donations by the Harrisburg insiders and public sector unions opposed to pension reform."
- Corbett-Cawley Communications Director Chris Pack

--IN CASE YOU MISSED IT--

Gov. candidate Tom Wolf visits Montgomery County

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf came to Montgomery County Friday, intending to use Chandler Bats in Norristown as a backdrop to discuss his “Made in Pennsylvania” plan to boost manufacturing in the state.

Instead, Wolf was peppered with questions concerning how he would have addressed state budget woes and about Gov. Tom Corbett and Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley’s new electronic ad campaign hammering Wolf on what the Republican campaign claims is his lack of enthusiasm on addressing pension reform.

In terms of the budget process, Wolf said he will use his experience as the chief executive officer of a kitchen cabinet manufacturing and distribution business in his hometown in York County.

“You pull people together,” said Wolf. “That’s leadership whether you are the governor or a CEO. I would have been involved in the process from the beginning and worked alongside of the legislators. That evidently was not done here.”

Instead of signing off on a “smokes and mirrors” budget as he claimed Gov. Corbett did, Wolf said that he would have enacted a “reasonable” 5-percent tax on natural gas, expanded Medicaid to take advantage of federal financial assistance and “looked at addressing loopholes and gaps in our tax laws.”

Wolf was less specific when asked about pension reform.

In its new ad campaign, the GOP blasts Wolf for repeatedly denying the existence of a pension crisis in the state.

“All you have to do is follow the money trail to see why Wolf continues to bury his head in the sand on pension reform,” said Corbett-Cawley Communications Director Chris Pack. “Wolf has received over $1.1 million from public sector unions, some of who have already taken a victory lap on their attempts to kill pension reform.”

Wolf Friday said there are a number of different proposals circulating among lawmakers from both sides of the aisle.

“We will have to start with two basic assumptions — that we can no longer kick this can down the road and we will have to find some methods of plugging the hole to make up for the lack of past contributions from the commonwealth,” said Wolf.

“Employees have been contributing at record amounts in terms of the rest of the country; the commonwealth has not,” said Wolf. “We are going to have to make up for that gap that past administrations have left us.”
“I will work with the legislature to come up with something,” he added.

Politics aside, the real hit of the tour may actually have been Chandler Bats.

As Wolf wove his way among workers handcrafting each bat, others of the approximate two-dozen Chandler work force were busy boxing bats scheduled to be delivered to the Phillies ballpark Friday night prior to the first game between the hometown team and the Washington Nationals.

The Phillies using Chandler bats include Chase Utley, Cody Asche and Domonic Brown. Two of the better known Nats using the bats are Bryce Harper and Jason Werth, according David Chandler, who heads the company.

The bats, made with maple or ash wood primarily from Pennsylvania, are used by about 26 percent of all Major League baseball players, said Chandler.

Chandler said he does not mind visits from politicians.

“The more politicians who understand our problems and the problems of other small businesses, the better off we all are,” said Chandler. “Also, their visits boost our profile.”

Wolf’s visit Friday comes on the heels of Gov. Corbett’s visit to the county.

Corbett toured both Asher‘s Chocolates in Franconia and the Almac Group’s headquarters in Lower Salford. The governor used the visit to cite the job growth and drop in unemployment while he has served at the helm of the state.

Read the article online HERE.

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