The Tribune Democrat: Gubernatorial hopeful visits Johnstown plant

JOHNSTOWN — Attorney General Tom Corbett brought his fledgling campaign for governor to a Johnstown factory Wednesday, saying the state has to get its economic and budget act together.

Corbett said the Keystone State has increased spending 40 percent to $27 billion under Gov. Ed Rendell.

“We’ve got to stop this wild spending,’’ he told a dozen company managers and Republican leaders at Johnstown Wire Technologies, where he went on a guided tour. “We’re on the wrong track.’’

He said he didn’t know anyone who increased spending that much within seven years, except maybe college athletes who turned pro.

In a related issue, Corbett said that as governor he would advocate that the state establish a two-year budget process. Many nonprofits, businesses and universities already plan over a longer term than one year.

“And we’d save a whole lot of money just on the process,’’ he said, noting that agencies would have to crunch out their budget proposals only every other year.

The Constitution would have to be changed to enact two-year budgets. That would require the measure be approved by two separate sessions of the Legislature and a referendum. The earliest that could occur is May 2011.

He blamed the budget impasse on Rendell for not starting to hammer out details early enough – in March or April.

Corbett, 60, also decried what he sees as the sorry state of the economy, saying Pennsylvania has fallen to 47th among the states in job creation.

He said college grads are leaving to go to other states with more business-friendly climates.

“We’re one of the greatest exporters of graduates in the country,’’ Corbett said.

On local matters, Corbett said it was too soon for him to gauge where Route 219 would fall on the road priority list. Rendell moved the completion of a four-lane 219 in Somerset County to the very top of Pennsylvania’s preferred road work.

“If the money has been appropriated, it would be silly to change that,’’ Corbett said.

Also, the four-year attorney general said his energy priorities would run to clean coal and natural gas – particularly that gas embedded in the Marcellus shale formation – more so than alternative energy.

“Let’s develop what we have. We’re much richer in coal and natural gas than we are in sun or wind,’’ he said.

He said development of the Marcellus formation could bring millions in royalties to state coffers.

State GOP Chairman Robert A. Gleason Jr. said Republicans have a good chance of reclaiming the Governor’s Mansion in 2010 due to Rendell’s purported failings.

“He has made our business climate in Pennsylvania horrible,’’ Gleason said. “The Republican Party knows how to create jobs by reducing government and reducing the cost of government.’’

Corbett was introduced by City Councilwoman Ann Wilson, who said, “He’s going to bring back the honesty and integrity we’ve been looking for.’’

Others who welcomed Corbett to the city included county Commissioner Bill Harris and lawyer Robert Davis “Gunner’’ Gleason.

Corbett announced his gubernatorial candidacy Monday. His challenger for the Republican nomination in 2010 is U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach of suburban Philadelphia. Democrats expected to enter the field include Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato and state Auditor General Jack Wagner.

Rendell can’t run again after serving two terms.

Corbett’s tour of Johnstown Wire Technologies in the West End included instruction on machines that draw out the steel wires to make them thinner. Products made in the cavernous 1911-era plant include everything from bearings and utility pole cable to wire used in Brillo pads, human resources manager Terry Buxbaum said.

Corbett said he takes a little something with him – intellectually speaking – from every place he visits.

As a staple on the county fair and farm show circuit, he joked, “I think I’ve seen every cow in Pennsylvania in the last five years.’’