Endorsed Lt. Gov. Candidate Denies He's "Too Liberal"

Republican lieutenant governor candidate Jim Cawley is taking sides in the GOP’s Pennsylvania gubernatorial primary.
Cawley, the party’s endorsed candidate in the nine-way Republican lieutenant governor primary, took a not-so-veiled shot at state Representative Sam Rohrer during a recent interview.

"In my mind, at least, it’s hard for somebody to be about reform if they voted for pay raises. If they voted for pension increases, and then turn around and talk about reform. I’m hard-pressed to understand how they have a platform upon which to speak."

Cawley has made his support for Attorney General Tom Corbett clear from the beginning of his campaign.
The Bucks County commissioner refers to the Attorney General as his “running mate” in a television ad, and has already reserved the domain name www.corbettcawley.com.
When asked to explain why he calls Corbett a “running mate” before either of them have won a contested primary, Cawley said he uses the phrase because both men are the Republican Party’s endorsed candidates.
Cawley is defending himself against attacks he’s too liberal for the GOP’s fall ticket.
Opponents have recently distributed mailers saying Cawley supports abortion rights and would raise taxes.
Cawley says that’s not true.

"My record speaks for itself. We’ve gone four years in a row in Bucks County without raising taxes. We’ve grown our fund balance. We’ve gone two years in a row of actually cutting the size of the county budget while still providing quality services."

During an interview with WDUQ, Cawley twice ducked the question of whether he thinks Pennsylvania can balance its budget without raising taxes.
He returned to the topic later on, though, saying, “increasing taxes is not the answer. Period.”