Call for Corbett to Resign Puts Focus on His Political Motives, Judgment

By ONORATO FOR GOVERNOR

PITTSBURGH: The Philadelphia Inquirer’s editorial board yesterday called for Republican gubernatorial nominee Tom Corbett to “quit his day job” because “it’s nearly impossible lately for the public to separate Corbett’s law enforcement duties from his role as the GOP nominee for governor.”
A long list of Corbett’s decisions as Attorney General – which have been criticized by the Inquirer, other leading editorial boards and reform advocates – raise as many questions about Corbett’s judgment and priorities as they do about his political motives.
As the state’s appointed Attorney General in the 1990’s, Corbett proposed lobbying rules that a leading reformer called “an intentional effort to derail a solid lobbyist reform effort” [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9/21/1996], and Corbett waited until he was almost out of office to do it.
During the same period, Corbett refused to join a multi-state lawsuit against tobacco companies – despite the massive financial burden the health care costs associated with smoking placed on Pennsylvania taxpayers. Corbett’s Republican successor, Attorney General Mike Fisher, later helped reach a 14-state settlement with a tobacco company.
At the time, Corbett had questioned whether his office had the resources or expertise to pursue a lawsuit against tobacco companies. But while running for Governor, Corbett’s taxpayer-funded Attorney General’s Office had no trouble suing the federal government twice: in an effort to overturn national health care legislation and to score political points on illegal immigration.
“For a candidate that stakes his reputation on prosecuting legislators that spend state money on campaigns, Corbett is coming perilously close to doing exactly what he accuses others of doing,” the Harrisburg Patriot-News editorial board noted in an editorial on Corbett’s health care lawsuit. [3/26/2010]
Then, in May, Corbett subpoenaed Twitter in order to expose anonymous bloggers who have been critical of him – a move that led the Patriot-News to call on Corbett to consider resigning to “assure the integrity of his office….” [5/23/2010]
And it has now been almost 4 months of silence since Corbett announced his investigation into fraudulent petitions in a Republican ally’s campaign. On March 29, Corbett’s official staff said he would take over a Delaware County case alleging that GOP Congressional candidate Pat Meehan’s nomination petitions contained fraudulent signatures – even though the same Republican officials who circulated petitions for Meehan also did it for Corbett.
“All of these actions – or inaction – fundamentally call into question Tom Corbett’s judgment,” Onorato Communications Director Brian Herman said.
Of course, there could be another reason that Corbett has worked so hard to make political hay out of his taxpayer-funded office.
“The overwhelming issue in every election is going to be jobs and the state budget,” as James Tierney, the director of the National State Attorneys General Program at Columbia University, told the online news service Stateline.org in an article published yesterday about Corbett and other Attorneys General who are seeking higher office. “It could be that an entire attorney general’s record is irrelevant to their campaign for governor.”
By comparison, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Dan Onorato has balanced six budgets in a row without ever raising property taxes and has experience making government live within its means. Under Onorato’s leadership, Allegheny County has more jobs than any other county in Pennsylvania and an unemployment rate significantly lower than the state’s and the nation’s.

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