By Patrick Cooley
HEMPFIELD TOWNSHIP — A man who could be the next governor of Pennsylvania visited Mercer County on Saturday for his first speech since being officially endorsed by the Pennsylvania Republican Party a week earlier.
State Attorney General Tom Corbett may have the party’s seal of approval but he still has to best Sam Rohrer in the May primary to win the nomination and the right to run in November.
Even then, Corbett told local Republicans gathered at Hempfield Station One for the annual Lincoln Day dinner, he has to win over independents and Democratic voters.
“They out-number us by 2.1 million (in Pennsylvania),” he said.
He wasn’t the only candidate looking for votes Saturday.
Also in attendance were: Republican congressional candidates Steve Fischer, Ed Franz, Paul Huber, Mike Kelly and Martha Moore, who are all running in the Republican primary for Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional district — a seat held by Democrat Kathy Dahlkemper — and Mary Beth Buchanan, who is running for the 4th Congressional district seat held by Jason Altmire.
Dave King, the chair of the Mercer County Republican Party, said they were very happy that Corbett picked Greenville to make his first appearance since his endorsement.
“For him to come here right out of the box, that’s a pretty big honor,” King said.
When state Sen. Bob Robbins, Salem Township, R-50th District, introduced Corbett, he talked about his character. Corbett was tapped to replace disgraced former attorney general Ernie Preate, but had to pledge not to run for the office when the term was up. He waited out eight years before running again and winning the job in 2004.
Before becoming attorney general, Corbett served as the U.S. Attorney for the western district of Pennsylvania, and prior to that he was a lawyer in private practice.
Throughout his speech he talked about the issues that many Republican candidates have talked about in their campaigns, including reducing state spending, lowering the deficit, lowering taxes, taking on medical malpractice reform and removing the tax and regulatory burdens on Pennsylvania businesses to make it easier for them to create jobs.
He praised Republican members of the legislature for taking a stand against new taxes and new spending in Gov. Ed Rendell’s proposed state budget.
Some of his priorities, he said, were cutting the projected deficit and improving educational opportunities and creating jobs.
Corbett repeatedly talked about the importance of creating opportunities for young people in Pennsylvania so they stay in the state, instead of moving to states with lower unemployment, and better job opportunities.
“The youth are the future, and they’re leaving,” he said.
Corbett also responded to criticism that he hasn’t presented a plan yet, telling the Mercer County Republicans that they can log onto his Web site — www.tomcorbettforgovernor.com — where he will be posting the details of his plans.
Corbett is investigating several current and former Democratic members of the state legislature for allegedly using public money to finance campaigns in a scandal that has become known as bonusgate. There has been some controversy about whether or not Corbett should continue the investigation now that he is running for governor. He didn’t bring up the issue on Saturday.
