Posted on 07/18/2013 7:22:13 AM PDT by Vigilanteman
Tom Corbett is one of the most unpopular politicians in the country. Now his own party is turning on him.
The biggest question in Pennsylvania politics right now isn't whether Gov. Tom Corbett will win reelection. It's whether he'll even get the chance.
Beset by legislative failures and bleak poll numbers, the Republican looks like the country's most vulnerable governor heading into the 2014 election. And Republicans are questioning whether they should let Corbett face a near-certain defeat when they could find a ready replacement with a much better chance of winning. Already, speculation among GOP operatives has shifted to a quartet of candidates the party might turn to, including several Republicans in the state's congressional delegation. Fearful of alienating a sitting governor, they've done little to publicly jockey for the potential opening. But all are said to be keeping a close eye on Corbett.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationaljournal.com ...
How quickly people forget that his administration has largely driven the kleptocracy which Ed Rendell so carefully constructed over his eight years of misrule underground. The anti-business climate has gone and the Commonwealth is slowly limping back.
The biggest rap on Corbett seems to be that he really hasn't accomplished anything, especially if you don't count little things like submitting state budgets on time and reducing the deficit. These don't get headlines.
He's also chosen his battles poorly. Rather than taking on the unions head-on where we won (in Wisconsin and Michigan) or lost (in Ohio), Corbett has actually used those examples to threaten them into a more reasonable posture. Again, commendable but again, no headlines.
Privatizing the state liquior stores is a prime example of a poorly chosen. Yeah, our system is antiquted and it makes little sense. But the union which runs it is powerful and even got some social conservatives on their side. As hard as it may seem for some outsiders to believe in the beer guzzling culture which dominates our two largest cities, there is almost a prohibitionist sentiment in some areas of our rural "T". And our rural population is not small-- one of the reasons the GOP remains competitive in the northeast region of the country where it has mostly died elsewhere there, with the possible exception of New Hampshire.
It seemed like such a good idea at the time-- a small goal, which was already the way of doing business in the other 49 states. But in 20-20 hindsight, it was a poor choice given the small results to be accomplished had it succeeded.
Personally, I like Tom. I think he is an honest man, albeit with certain RINO tendencies. He has done some very good things here, including (and maybe especially) fairly modest cuts in the education budget which has that lobby screaming louder than ever for his scalp, but which have played a big role in slowing the march to financial Armegeddon.
All-in-all, I think he deserves to be rewarded with a second term. But, realistically, I just don't see how he gets there. He'd be better off bowing out gracefully now and running to get his old job back in 2016.
We elected Corbett to hold the line on taxes. And up till his recent cave on transportation funding, he did. All the rest is Democrat spin.
The guy is not very colorful or articulate. This leaves him vulnerable when he comes under attack from the usual suspects.
What has happened IMO is that he went in to hold the line on taxes but the Obama Economy has remained depressed for much longer than any of them expected. Hence a number of fiscal crises are now coming to a head. There are no good solutions, and he is taking all the heat for the bad ones currently under discussion.
That and the fact that most Pennsylvanians are disabused with the stupid idea that it’s the government’s job to provide jobs for them.
I think that would go a long way toward improving his ratings.
Corbett is corrupt but his agenda is mostly Conservative. He’s trying to privatize liquor sales and eliminate nuisance taxes and has also slashed budgets, and that’s one of the real reasons that the RINOs don’t like him.
If Corbett wants reelected all he has to do is eliminate property taxes; landslide victory. But I’m quite convinced that I’ll never see the day when a person can outright own a piece of property in PA. The republicans certainly talked a good game when Rendel was Governor but I truly believe every PA politician is a rat-bastard.
Boy, holding on to the PA governership heading into 2016 would sure make things a lot more pleasant.
Without property tax elimination he has no chance for reelection. The unions will be out in force because of him trying to privatize the state lottery and the liquor stores. The trouble is that the state Republican committee is mostly RINOs who are to the left of Corbett. For them to back a conservative challenger is not even a possibility.
Another reason I wish he had his old job back. We now have a useless political hack as AG. Corbett can ask her to her job, but he really can't order it since it is an independently elected office.
About all he could further do is support impeachment proceedings against her and we don't have the votes in the legislature to do that.
One of Corbett's best virtues is that he isn't particularly colorful. It wouldn't be unfair to describe him as boring, sort of like the Calvin Coolidge of Pennsylvania politics.
Unfortunately, that isn't seen as an asset in today's political environment.
We're also a Penn State family, with two sons enrolled there. He looks too much like someone who protected fellow members of the board of trustees and was reluctant to pursue early indications of a problem with Sandusky. Another strike against him.
Finally, I've been a committee person since 2009, and I'm disgusted with the state of GOP leadership within the state and our county. It's lukewarm and torn by factions. I don't see him helping with this situation at all. He doesn't come across as a figurehead within the party and does nothing to unite it. I think he is a reasonably good administrator, but not as strong a leader as we need.
Corbett is not the first GOP Gov to try and kill off our antiquated State Store system. It always fails when the unions start throwing their temper-tantrum that this would kill off “good union jobs”.
48 states. We’re still better than Utah. ;-)
I think Utah may regulate alcohol content a little more than Pennsylvania, but that's about it.
I’ve heard that same charge. It’s all about Jerry Sandusky.
Truth is, ANY Governor would have done likewise and run interference for JoePa until the burden of evidence became totally overwhelming. Ed Rendell, Tom Ridge, ANY of ‘em.
JoePa was like a patron saint here. Truth be told, a more powerful man than the Governor.
I understood Utah’s (hard) liquor was also sold in state stores only and that they were even more inconvenient than ours.
I know they have a ridiculous rule where drinks have to be mixed out of the sight of anybody.
Besides, you can get beer from the Giant Eagle now in many locations.
I am opposed to selling the state stores because I don’t trust any of our politicians with such a windfall in revenue. Look how much the casino money helped in reducing taxes for the common man.
Sad that Corbett got sucked into this losing battle. There were so many more winnable fights which would have had far more impact.
You win with that argument.
I’m curious as to why you are surrounded by lefties in a parochial system. I’d think they would be resentful for doing the same work as public school teachers for less money. Or, do they all harbor dreams that they will eventually get on that gravy train?
“JoePa was like a patron saint here. Truth be told, a more powerful man than the Governor.”
That is probably a true statement. And isn’t it sad that we place our values on some guy who manages some lame a$$ed game! I had one of my professional engineers tell me when OJ was on trial for killing his wife that “he knew OJ didn’t do it because he was a sports figure!” The majority of our “citizens” haven’t the intellect to separate sports from reality.
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