Why is Tom Corbett Not Telling the Truth?

By ONORATO FOR GOVERNOR

PITTSBURGH: Responding to relentless criticism of his comments on Friday that “the jobs are there” but Pennsylvanians would rather just “sit there” on unemployment than go back to work, Republican gubernatorial nominee Tom Corbett’s campaign yesterday tried a different approach: lying to change the subject.

On Friday, Corbett told Pennsylvania Public Radio that: “People don’t want to come back to work while they still have unemployment…. The jobs are there, but if we keep extending unemployment the people are going to sit there…”

As the Philadelphia Daily News paraphrased in an editorial titled “Bad job on jobs,” Corbett “exhorted those unlucky enough to be jobless: ‘Get off your duff and go to work.’” [July 13, 2010]

Yesterday, as jobless Pennsylvanians continued to call Corbett to task for saying they are lazy and would rather collect benefits than go back to work, the Corbett campaign tried their best to walk back their candidate’s heartless comment.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that campaign spokesman Kevin Harley “said that Mr. Corbett ‘knows that the vast majority of people who are unemployed are diligently looking for work. He has visited with unemployed workers at agencies such as Careerlink in Lancaster, which retrains and matches up employers with employees….’” [July 13, 2010]

But that is not what Tom Corbett said on Friday. And it’s not what he meant.

We know that because Tom Corbett’s game of blame-the-victim has actually been strikingly consistent throughout this campaign – ever since the very visit to the Lancaster CareerLink that Harley cited.

Following that visit in March, Corbett “provocatively suggested that Congress’ decision to extend unemployment benefits might be having the opposite of its intended effect and actually be serving as a disincentive to go back to work. ‘What I see here are people looking for jobs, but that’s only 10 percent [of the unemployed],’ he said. ‘What about the other 80 or 90 percent?’” [Capitol Ideas, March 18, 2010]

While Harley is now trying to claim that Corbett believes the “vast majority” of unemployed Pennsylvanians are “diligently looking for work,” his own boss’s words tell another story. Corbett suggested that “80 or 90 percent” of jobless Pennsylvanians are too lazy to look for a job.

Tom Corbett’s message is clear: Pennsylvanians themselves are to blame for being laid off or unable to find work.

“Tom Corbett doesn’t even recognize that there’s a problem, so of course he can’t be part of the solution,” Onorato said. “Our economy is struggling, families in Pennsylvania are hurting, and a Harrisburg insider like Tom Corbett is so out of touch that he’s actually blaming the victims of the recession.”

“This is a fundamental difference between me and my opponent,” Onorato added. “He just doesn’t get it – but Pennsylvanians do.”

Corbett has still not publicly identified the source of his accusation that Pennsylvanians who have lost their jobs would rather stay at home than go back to work.

On Friday, Corbett “pointed to one candy company in Camp Hill as an example, saying the owner told him they hired 50 European college students for the summer when the company was unable to fill its full-time positions.” [Capitolwire, July 9, 2010]

Later, his spokesman told another reporter that, “Corbett was simply relating a story told by the owner of a plumbing business. He did not name the business.” [Allentown Morning Call, July 9, 2010]

And, “in Lancaster on Monday, Corbett told Capitolwire ‘that’s what had been reported to me.’” [Allentown Morning Call, July 13, 2010]

###

pa2010.com publishes press releases, statements and other information from campaigns and political committees. We also publish legislative releases from candidates considering higher office in 2010 and from incumbents holding those offices. E-mail releases to press@pa2010.com.