ELEPHANT CORNER:

GOV. TOM CORBETT came to veterans post in Burholme to announce his campaign for reelection last week.

Last week GOV. TOM CORBETT announced his decision to run for a second term. Corbett brought his “Promises Kept Re-Election Tour” to the Delaware Valley with a stop in Philadelphia last Thursday at the Loudenslager America Legions Post in Fox Chase. The room was packed with roughly 200 supporters and about half as many detractors were outside demonstrating.

LT. GOV. JIM CAWLEY preceded Corbett at the podium. Cawley spoke of the great job Corbett has done. He produced a balanced budget on time each of the past three years, which is something which his predecessor had not done in each of his eight years in power. Cawley also observed Corbett had inherited a $4.2 billion deficit from the Rendell Administration that he brought to balance without raising taxes.

Cawley introduced Pennsylvania’s First Lady SUSAN CORBETT. She spoke of her husband’s character as well as his successes. They have been married for almost 41 years. She, like Corbett, was a public-school teacher and appreciates the importance of funding for public education.

Corbett followed his wife at the podium and did something he is not comfortable with, but must do to get reelected – brag about himself and his accomplishments. This campaign, he stated, will have the same theme as his last one: “More Jobs, Less Taxes.” Unemployment declined during his administration. It was 8.1% when he took office and now is 7.7%. His Administration addressed the regulatory changes needed to deal with the expanding development of the Marcellus Shale. The Commonwealth enacted updated environmental and other rules for the oil-and-gas sector. Impact fees were put in place to compensate for the increased expenses incurred by the state and local municipalities related to increased natural-gas exploration activities. The companies were willing to pay their way, but additional taxes on top of the Pennsylvania corporate tax rate of 9.9% (which is among the highest in the US) probably would have reduced investment and thus jobs in the Marcellus Shale area.

Contrary to rants of some of the outside protestors and Corbett’s other detractors, his Administration has not cut state funding of public education from that of the Rendell Administration. The last Rendell budget did appear larger than the first Corbett budget for education, but his detractors conveniently forget $1.3 billion of Rendell’s FY2010 education allocation was one-time federal stimulus money. No one mentions the irresponsibility on Rendell’s part of funding operating education expenses with a one-time federal contribution. The transition funding for the loss of students to charter schools should not be permanent money, as the school districts should, after a modest amount of time, be able to adjusted their planning and budgets for lower enrollments.

MAKING MERRY at Clover Club cocktail hour were Lou Lanni, 8th Ward Leader Lindsay Doering, Joe Eastman and Tom Darcy.

Unfortunately the Philadelphia School District did not until last year make any meaningful changes owing to the decrease in the school system’s student body. The school system lost tens of thousands of students before the advent of charter schools. They still could consolidate more schools. Credit should be given to SUPERINTENDENT WILLIAM HITE, who appears to appreciate the benefits of spending money on the children and not underutilized bricks and mortar and expensive administrators running those underused spaces.

Tuesday night the Clover Club held its now-annual cocktail reception, which for many years was a luncheon at the Union League. Although the club is a nonpartisan civic organization, there were a number of members of the herd present. The Cover Club’s Treasurer is Republican WARD LEADER MIKE CIBIK. Other Republicans in attendance included former Republican City Committee CHAIRMAN VITO CANUSO and JUDGE CHARLES CUNNINGHAM and WARD LEADER MATT WOLFE as well as Republican activists LOU LANNI, JOE EASTMAN and BILL POUND, JR. Pound is considering a run for the State House seat that covers Manayunk, Boxborough and part of Lower Merion.

   Send article as PDF