By Dick Miller
WE.CONNECT.DOTS: No candidate – even running against the disorganized and incompetent Pennsylvania Democrat Party – could survive the hits Gov. Tom Corbett has taken in this last week of August 2014.
For starters, a new Franklin & Marshall College poll shows incumbent Republican Corbett trailing Democrat challenger Tom Wolf by 25 points.
These results are after a summer when Corbett ran a steady stream of negative TV ads against Wolf. The barrage helped Corbett close to within 12 points by the end of June, but his campaign has been all downhill since.
Most voters still rank education as their top issue. Real or perceived, Corbett is blamed for an overall drop in spending for public education, putting the sitting governor in a steady defensive position.
The campaign, in fact, turned silly this week with all the laughs on Corbett.
The incumbent struggles to shore up support with women voters. FreshStatePA.org, a Democrat political committee working for Wolf, posted a clip from a Hazelton television program in late July this week, according to the Philadelphia News.
Quoting Corbett, “I think a lot of people want to be able to walk into a grocery store, particularly a lot of women, want to go and buy a bottle of wine for dinner, go down buy a six pack – or two six packs – buy dinner and go home rather than what I described as three stops in Pennsylvania.”
In that interview, Corbett was promoting his efforts to privatize state stores.
Last Tuesday Americans observed Women’s Equality Day to commemorate passage of the 19th Amendment. FreshStartPA.org chair Katie McGinty chose that day to release Corbett’s remarks. She noted Corbett did not bother to issue an apology.
Brenda Barron, organizing director for Keystone Progress, said Corbett “thinks his state should reform its liquor laws. That way, he argued, women would have an easier job making dinner.”
Two other Corbett setbacks last week involved labor unions.
The Allentown Morning Call reported the 40,000 member state Fraternal Order of Police has endorsed Tom Wolf. “Our organization is facing serious assaults on both our ability to collectively bargain as well as our pensions,” stated FOP vice president Roosevelt Poplar, a Philadelphia cop.
Among other anti-union views, Corbett has proposed a radical overhaul to pensions for state public employees and to prohibit the state from collecting union dues on behalf of public employees.
Four years ago, the state FOP endorsed Corbett for election to his first term as Governor. Twice before that, the FOP backed Corbett for separate successful runs for attorney-general. This Labor Day will be one of the rare times a Pennsylvania governor does not march in the annual parade in Pittsburgh.
Allegheny County Central Labor Council banned him from the 2014 parade. A few locals in the building trades and construction back Corbett for his support of a huge refunding to rebuild roads and bridges.Jack Shea, longtime labor council president, sees it differently, however. “You can’t be trying to do away with us 364 days a year and then want to march with us,” he reasoned.
Finally, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports Dave Naples is running a write-in campaign for Governor with no money and no television ads. Totally dependent upon the power of Facebook, as of a few days ago, his Page had only “44 likes.” Political pundits proclaim Naples is unlikely to overtake Wolf by November 4.
Bottom Line: How many Republican legislative candidates will Corbett take down the drain in this year’s campaign is the only remaining issue.
