OUT & ABOUT: 1st Gubernatorial Face-Off Addresses Workers

APPEARING together for their first public appearance on same stage at Forum at Temple University were Democratic gubernatorial candidates former DEP Secretary John Hanger, former DEP Secretary Katie McGinty, former Revenue Secretary Tom Wolf, Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz and State Treasurer Rob McCord.

In the world of politics, the start of campaign season seems to coincide with holidays.

 If the election is in the fall, Labor Day is the holiday that seems to bring those seeking office out to every clambake, parade and party with more than three people in attendance. For the May primaries in the spring, Thanksgiving seems to be the time to start down the campaign trail.

Or at least it does now.

Construction on Philadelphia’s onramp to the road to the Pennsylvania Governor’s Mansion started on Saturday with a Candidate’s Forum at the Temple Performance Arts Center.

Moderated by the Rev. Mark Tyler of Mother Bethel AME Church, the forum, organized by a coalition of community groups and unions, featured five candidates vying for the Democratic nomination for Governor: former Dept. of Environmental Protection Secretaries Katie McGinty and John Hanger; former Revenue Secretary Tom Wolf; State Treasurer Rob McCord; and Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz.

Unlike most of the forums that will be taking place further down the May primary line, this one focused on topics related to the needs of working families. Everyone largely played nice. Forum organizers presented what they called a Working Families Agenda on issues ranging from education and jobs to healthcare and retirement with dignity.

Now, I’ll be honest with you. You had five people vying for the Democratic nomination for Governor in a room filled with people that asked them for things like the abolition of the School Reform Commission, expansion of Medicaid, raising the minimum wage and providing paid sick days, and protecting the pensions of public employees.

If they wanted to leave that room in one piece, of course they’d agree to all of it. Anything else would have caused a riot.

But that said, some of them showed their support better than others.

For example, McCord was succinct, and delivered his remarks in a way that showcased his experience as Treasurer and how he would bring it to the Governor’s office.

Meanwhile, in the case of Schwartz, some of us are still waiting for her to answer the questions. When I was following coverage of the forum on Twitter, more than a few folks asked if she had given any detail in her answers.

But the applause line of the night came from Hanger, who said, “We should legalize marijuana!” That drew darn near a standing ovation….

I know I have at least six months more of these things to go through, but I hope they include a question-and-answer session. This gathering sure could have used one.

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