Pennsylvania Attorney General Thomas Corbett pledged a more business-friendly atmosphere for the commonwealth, with a leaner government and lower taxes, if he is elected the next governor.
Corbett, a Republican candidate in the May 18 primary, teamed with congressional candidate Tim Burns for a roundtable chat on campaign issues Thursday afternoon with local political leaders and business figures at The Coney in downtown Indiana.
Burns, a Washington County businessman and graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, is running for the seat in Congress left vacant by the death of Rep. John Murtha. He appears on two ballots: first, in a special election against Democratic candidate Mark Critz to complete the remaining seven months of Murtha’s term, and second, on the regular Republican primary ballot competing against William Russell for the nomination to run in November for a full two-year term in Congress.
It was a rare “schedule convergence” that allowed the roundtable meeting to occur, said state Republican Committeeman William Darr, who moderated the session.
Hastily arranged, the session included area Republican elected officials and a handful of local businessmen, who all were invited to quiz the candidates and learn their positions on issues of concern in the upcoming primary and general elections.
OTHER THAN being Republicans, Corbett and Burns have little in common. One’s running for an executive post and the other, legislative. If they get elected, they wouldn’t even work in the same city or level of government.
Each, however, endorsed the other’s campaign.
“Tim shares a vision for the future of Pennsylvania similar to mine, that restores trust and integrity to government,” Corbett said.
“I’m proud and humble to say that I endorse you,” Burns told Corbett. “I think you would be wonderful for the state. ... I’m very happy to endorse you.”
Both said they’re concerned about the state of affairs that could be left to the next generation.
“I got into this race because I’m concerned about the future of this country,” Burns said. “I’ve got two kids, and I know I wouldn’t be able to look them in the eye if I let them grow up and had to tell them I didn’t do anything.”
“This campaign is really about our children and grandchildren,” Corbett said. “It’s about giving them a Pennsylvania they can be proud of and that they’re going to stay in, rather than moving out to other states where they may find other jobs because they have better opportunities.”
PROVIDING FOR the future is an issue certain to face Pennsylvania’s next governor.
The state faces multi-billion-dollar shortages in the state employees’ and public school employees’ retirement funds, debts that can’t be avoided and can only be delayed, as Gov. Ed Rendell has proposed.
Amortizing the debt over the next 30 years would delay a projected spike in the employer contribution rates due to hit in 2012, and hold off the pension problem until after the November elections and for the last months of Rendell’s term.
Corbett called for committing the necessary contributions to a legislated “lock box,” preventing the debt from being ignored and the money from being diverted.
Once solved, the future of the PSERS and SERS programs needs review, he said.
“We need to look at future pensions. Most private section pension plans have gone to defined-contribution programs rather than defined-benefit,” Corbett said. “Many governments are starting to go to that and we’re going to have to examine it with an eye toward going that way.”
Pennsylvania’s public-sector pensions now provide defined benefits. Retirees get guaranteed payments, regardless of the rates of employee and employer contributions and investment profits needed to fulfill the obligations.
“We’re going to have to look at the years of service needed to qualify for a pension. And evaluate the age of retirement,” Corbett said. “With our health care today, look at us. Retirees are living much longer. Age 65 is very young, like 40 was a generation ago.”
THE LOCAL business and Republican leaders had fewer crystallized issues for Burns to address.
Acknowledging that the next 12th District representative won’t be expected to carry the clout that Murtha had after 17 terms, Burns held his personal experience — a founder of a small business — as a top qualification for the race.
“I bring different experience — I know how to create jobs,” Burns said. “I started a company and we ultimately had 400 jobs. I understand the burden that government already places on young, growing businesses.”
Burns agreed, too, that his fate in the race might easily rely more on the party he represents to the voters and what the election represents to the rest of the nation.
Republicans took the U.S. Senate seat held for decades by Democrats in Massachusetts after Sen. Edward Kennedy died. Likewise, political leaders see the race for Murtha’s seat as far more than a 12th District matter.
“This election to some extent will be a referendum on the (President Barack) Obama and (House Speaker Nancy) Pelosi agenda,” Burns said. “Are they taking the country in the right direction or the wrong direction? And we have been getting help, support and attention from all cross this country.”
National political leaders are working for the seat. Vice President Joseph Biden is expected to campaign in the district for Critz, and former Rep. Newt Gingrich will appear for Burns, he said.
“This is a big race with national attention,” Burns said. “It is a referendum ... people are upset about it. We’ll see a lot of people get involved in this face from all over.”
And there’s been national media attention on the quest to succeed Murtha, he said. A USA TODAY reporter already has shadowed Burns for a story.
CORBETT, TOO, has had national media attention, but not for his race for governor. He’s part of a coalition of state attorneys general that have filed a federal lawsuit to overturn The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — the formal name for the new health care reform program.
“The litigation is not about health care,” Corbett said. “It’s about the ability of the federal government to tell you what to buy. We believe they don’t have the power to do that.”
Finding that a single provision in the 2,500-page document is unconstitutional would overturn the entire law, Corbett said.
Although the issue is entirely unrelated to the campaign for governor, Corbett said it’s the one that most voters ask about.
“I get it from both sides,” he said. “People are mad at me. It has probably cost me more votes than it ever would have gained me, and that’s not the reason we did it.”
The attorneys general are required to submit revisions or amendments to the lawsuit by May 14, and Justice Department attorneys would have 30 days to file a response.
“This would go to trial in September at the earliest,” Corbett said. But he predicted that regardless of who prevails, the case would be appealed up the line, ultimately to the U.S. Supreme Court, where a final decision would be two years away.
ON OTHER issues raised at the forum:
Corbett said drilling for Marcellus shale natural gas would have a huge impact on the state’s economy.
“If we do it right.” Corbett said. “And we have to do it right. We can’t miss this opportunity.”
Burns agreed.
“This is a gold mine, and the federal government should promote it,” Burns said. “The best things they should do to promote this? It’s to get out of the way.”
Burns said the next best thing to lowering taxes, from the federal view, is to make sure tax cuts enacted in the Bush Administration are permanent.
“It’s not up to government to create jobs. Government has to create an environment attractive to business,” Burns said. “We need to improve the infrastructure in the district and offer tax breaks to job creators.
“We need to eliminate bureaucratic red tape. I’ve been all round the district meeting with people … virtually in every industry. It’s a shame when you sit around the table with folks that have been in an industry for 20 and 30 years who are, literally, almost in tears talking to you about the problems that they’re having simply getting their jobs done. The regulations are out of control and beyond burdensome.”
Burns categorically denied an accusation made by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in an ad that first aired Thursday on behalf of Critz, Burns’ opponent in the May 18 special election.
The ad claims Burns supports a 23 percent national sales tax.
“It’s laughable,” Burns said, calling it a lie.
“The last thing we want to do is increase taxes in a recession. It would be terrible for the economy,” Burns said. “Again, the role of government is to get out of the way ... and not punish business owners who create jobs and grow the economy.”
“We need to do the same thing in Pennsylvania,” Corbett said. “We need to cut the taxes on business. Business is the engine that creates jobs. Any government job is paid for by taxpayers, other jobs are paid for by business, and that’s what we need to increase.”
On the state level, Corbett said he would push to cut Pennsylvania’s corporate net income tax from 9.9 to 6.9 percent, get rid of the cap on net operating loss, remove the capital stock and franchise tax and to completely phase out the inheritance tax “to get out of the business of taking money from the next generation’s pocket.”
“We need to allow businesses to be passed along in their families,” he said. “Particularly farm business, the No. 1 industry in Pennsylvania. They have a much more difficult time passing along farms because of the inheritance tax.”
Corbett said he would introduce a transportation improvement plan next week, but said many of the state’s philosophies for funding transportation projects are 60 to 80 years old and don’t work anymore.
One is the gas tax, he said, which generates less revenue at current rates with the introduction of more fuel-efficient vehicles.
“We’re going to have to come up with a way that we don’t lose that income,” Corbett said. “We have more cars on the highway, traveling more miles but turning less revenue to the transportation fund. We will explore that.”
On another state issue, Corbett said government agencies with enforcement powers, such as the Department of Environmental Protection, need regulators who act consistently from region to region.
Landfills, he said, are treated differently by people from different regional offices.
“You have to enforce environmental regulations evenly, equally and fairly across the board,” Corbett said. He said regulations need to be made clear.
“You can do it with a partnership of saying ‘If you do this you’re going to be in violation,’ and help a company understand what they’re doing wrong before you play gotcha.”
