Times Leader: Gubernatorial hopeful wants to restore trust

Corbett, 60, brought his statewide announcement tour to Northeastern Pennsylvania Thursday, stopping at Diamond Manufacturing in Wyoming. Corbett toured the plant, shaking hands with workers as he made his way through a sometimes noisy facility.

“The tour was fast and fascinating,” Corbett, a Republican and the state’s attorney general, said. “I learned a lot about soundproofing equipment. Everywhere I stop on my tour across the Commonwealth, I learn more and more about this great state and its great people.”

Charles “Rusty” Flack was Corbett’s tour guide, walking the Republican candidate around the plant that employs 180 people locally and another 70 in Indiana and North Carolina.

Corbett touted his favorite National Football League team, the Pittsburgh Steelers. He told a Philadelphia Eagles fan that he was hoping for an all-Pennsylvania Super Bowl last year.

“We showed up,” Corbett said, joking. “Maybe we’ll both be there this year.”

Corbett started his post-tour press conference with the obvious: “Yes, I am going to run for governor,” he said to about 100 supporters gathered in the plant. “This is not something I set as a goal; it’s something that has grown inside me over the years. I love this state, but I think it’s on the wrong track.”

Corbett said unemployment is too high and too many businesses are leaving the state for other destinations, such as Tennessee.

“Now, I think the Steelers kicked Tennessee’s butt the other night,” Corbett said. “I want to kick their butt when it comes to economic development.”

Corbett said the state’s tax climate needs to change to make the state more attractive to businesses looking to relocate. He said the state’s budget is “grossly out of proportion.”

“How many of you have increased your spending by 40 percent in the last six and a half years?” Corbett asked. “Well, that’s what Pennsylvania has done. That kind of spending can’t be sustained during these economic times. Gov. Rendell still wants to spend, but the only way to pay for it is through your tax dollars.”

Corbett said the state’s next governor has a tough job ahead. He said a mounting state debt service of nearly $1 billion is looming. He said spending has to be decreased, which means expenses must be cut.

“There will be a lot of tough decisions to be made,” he said. “We need leadership in Harrisburg. I’ll make those tough decisions.”

Corbett, who won re-election as attorney general in 2008, garnered more votes than any Republican in Pennsylvania history. And he did that in a presidential year that saw President Barack Obama win convincingly.

“I truly believe in the intelligence of the electorate,” Corbett said. “I believe voters will consider my record and what I’ve done as attorney general.”

He said Luzerne County is a “target area” and he expects to campaign heavily in the region.

Flack said he was honored to have Corbett come to Diamond Manufacturing.

“He’s pro-Pennsylvania and pro-jobs,” Flack said.

Terry Casey, chairman of the Luzerne County Republican Party, said Corbett is a “distinguished candidate” whom he has admired for years.

Corbett was first elected in 2004 as the state’s 25th attorney general. In his 2008 campaign, he declared that “public safety is the single most important service that government can provide.”

Corbett has made protecting Pennsylvania’s senior population from fraud and abuse a priority. He said the state has the third largest percentage of seniors in the U.S., making Pennsylvania a prime target for criminals and scam artists. He has formed an Elder Abuse Unit to bring together enforcement and educational resources in the effort.

He has worked closely with local, state and federal law enforcement to halt drug trafficking into the state and reduce the drug-related crime.

Corbett and his wife, Susan Manbeck Corbett, are the parents of two children: Tom, a video game producer; and Katherine, a prosecutor in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.