The following is part of a series of real-time responses on statements made by Secretary Tom Wolf during tonight’s Pennsylvania Chamber Gubernatorial debate with Governor Tom Corbett.

WAR ON WOMEN

CLAIM:

Governor Tom Corbett has launched a war on women.

RESPONSE:

Governor Tom Corbett values the expertise of the many intelligent, hard-working women on his administration. Governor Tom Corbett has the first-ever female Chief of Staff in the history of Pennsylvania. He also has seven women serving at the head of state agencies. Combined, these women are responsible for nearly 80 percent of the state budget.

The same cannot be said about Secretary Tom Wolf.

Tom Wolf claims that he has “women in spades” in his company’s management. There are 26 senior level management and board of directors positions at Wolf Organization, but there are only two female senior managers and zero women on his board of directors.

Wolf also has refused to release a gender audit at his company to prove that women and men are paid equally. To quote Wolf’s fellow Democrat, Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz:

“Tom Wolf may think it’s ridiculous to ask legitimate questions about whether his company pays women and men equally. But women and men across Pennsylvania deserve to know whether Tom Wolf is practicing what he preaches in his television ads. Tom Wolf has centered his campaign on his business record, and these are legitimate questions about whether there is a wage gap for women at The Wolf Organization. We know for a fact there are no women on his board and only two in management. He might call that ‘women in spades.’ It’s not. Tom Wolf’s labeling of questions about pay equity at The Wolf Organization as ‘ridiculous’ is insulting to the hundreds of thousands of women who have heard the exact same response when they ask questions about wage disparities in the workplace.”

Wolf was also “proud” to endorse Jake Wheatley in his failed run for Vice Chairman of the Pennsylvania Democratic Committee, despite Wheatley’s record of domestic violence against women. Wheatley was arrested for domestic abuse against a woman two years ago after “grabbing his fiancée’s arms and pushing her to the floor twice.” He was also charged with assault against a North Carolina woman in 1995.

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