Impact of Rohrer Write-in on Governor's Race

A group of conservative voters has launched a write-in gubernatorial campaign for Berks Country Representative Sam Rohrer, who lost in the spring primary. One analyst says he can envision a scenario where the movement has an impact on the fall election.

Rohrer and his hard-line conservative platform won 31 percent of the vote in May. The lawmaker hasn’t endorsed Republican nominee Tom Corbett, and indicates he doesn’t have any plans to. Pennsylvania law bars primary losers from running on third-party ballot lines, but a small group of Rohrer supporters have launched a website urging voters to write in Rohrer’s name in this fall.

Franklin and Marshall College political scientist Terry Madonna says the Corbett campaign should be worried. “I mean [Corbett] has, not arguably, somewhere between a seven to ten point lead,” he says. “But what happens if they end up absorbing 7 to 10 points of his lead? I don’t think that’s out of the question, for Rohrer to get up to ten points.” Madonna says if nothing else, the campaign creates more hassles for Corbett. “You don’t want to be there if you don’t have to be,” he argues.

Rohrer is keeping the write-in campaign at arms-length distance. He didn’t return calls for comment, and Representative Gordon Denlinger, a Lancaster Country Republican who’s close to Rohrer, says the representative isn’t endorsing the movement. Denlinger isn’t fully backing the effort, either, but says it’s wrong to tell conservatives to vote for Corbett, just to put a Republican in the governor’s mansion. “, I would certainly not ever encourage someone to say, set aside your beliefs, let that take a back seat and just move forward with some type of a political calculation,” he argues.

Rohrer centered his primary bid around reduced government spending. He argues Pennsylvania is on the verge of insolvency, and increased spending and dishonest budgeting are putting the state billions of dollars in the hole each year. Rohrer actively courted “Tea Party” voters, appearing at 9/12 Project and Tea Party meetings across the commonwealth.

Organizers of the write-in campaign say they just don’t trust Corbett. One of the main collaborators, Sue Nelms, says the Attorney General lost her support when he called the Constitution a “living document.” She’s also skeptical, because Corbett didn’t deliver a clear answer to the hypothetical question of whether he’d seize Pennsylvanians’ guns, if ordered to d0-so by the president. “If he was governor of our state, I think he would not follow the Constitution,” she says. “And I think that’s sad.”

Lawmakers Grumble Over Budget

A majority of Senators and Representatives voted for this year’s state budget, but many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle aren’t happy with the spending plan.
Berks County Republican Sam Rohrer, who ran for governor in this year’s GOP primary, says he's worried the spending plan is paving the way for a multi-billion dollar deficit next year.
Rohrer says the spending plan over-inflates the new fiscal year’s expected revenue, and underestimates General Fund expenditures.
He says that will create a deficit of at least 800 million dollars, and that’s before expiring stimulus dollars and pension payments are added in.

"And for the governor and other leaders to come back and say by surprise, ‘we just didn’t know that the revenues would come in where they were going to come in,’ is a demonstration of complete ignorance, or even worse, a purposeful distortion of the numbers."

Meantime, many liberal lawmakers are angry the budget didn’t include taxes on smokeless tobacco and cigars.
Allegheny County Democrat Dan Frankel says it’s “not credible” for lawmakers to walk away from that revenue, while voting to cut funding for most state departments.

Corbett: Can Appeal to Tea Party & Moderate Voters

State Representative Sam Rohrer of Berks County isn’t sure whether he’ll endorse Republican gubernatorial nominee Tom Corbett but Corbett says he’s not worried about securing the support of Rohrer’s conservative backers.
Rohrer’s base of supporters ended up being comparatively small – he garnered 31 percent of the Republican primary vote.
But the conservatives, many of them Tea Party and 9-12 Project members, are devoted, and Rohrer say it may take some convincing to get them to vote for Corbett.
Speaking at an Allegheny County polling site on Tuesday, Rohrer said Corbett and the State Republican Party have some fence mending to do.

"They really have alienated a huge number of the people of the state, beginning with the endorsement process, and going all the way through. And I think it’s much more difficult for him to bring together the party."

Corbett insists he reached out to conservative activists and grassroots groups throughout the primary campaign.

"So we’ve already begun that process. So I would disagree with Mr. Rohrer. I think many of his supporters and many of the independents out there will be coming on board with us."

Corbett also says he’s confident he can appeal to the Tea Party voters, while still wooing the state’s moderate independent and Democratic voters.

Corbett Wins

Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett’s quickly began looking at the future last night after accepting victory in the Republican Gubernatorial primary.
Corbett says it was all about “hope and change” two years ago, but as he spoke to the voters this year it was all about “enough.” Enough Washington, enough Harrisburg, enough taxing and spending and enough Ed Rendell. He says the victory was not the end of a campaign but the beginning of an effort to change in the way Harrisburg operates. He says, “We need to force Harrisburg to go back to the drawing board and to enact meaningful reform and not increase the burden on you the taxpayers of Pennsylvania. We need real change and that only comes from real leadership and real action. And that is the kind of governor I am going to be.” Corbett says as governor he will live up to his no new taxes pledge and will fight to end waste, fraud and abuse while creating jobs and helping the state live up to its energy potential. “ Time and again America has turned to Pennsylvania for innovation and entrepreneurship, and now we have the opportunity to be a leader once again through our energy supply, not only to the nation but to the entire world,” says Corbett. Corbett also thanked Sam Rohrer for a “spirited campaign.” He says now is the time to “unify and make Pennsylvania great once again.”

Listen to Tom Corbett's full election night speech.

Corbett, Rohrer Exchange Barbs

The Republican gubernatorial campaign has turned negative in the final days before Tuesday’s Pennsylvania primary.
Supporters of State Representative Sam Rohrer of Berks County have hammered Attorney General Tom Corbett for calling the Constitution a “living document” in April.
The phrase is often construed as coded support for judges who impose new laws from the bench.
Larry Pratt, the executive director of Gun Owners of America, ripped into Corbett at a Harrisburg Rohrer rally.

"Those kinds of words come from somebody who does not respect for authority. Who thinks that he is the lord over it all. And there’s no way to restrain him. Anyone who believes in that living constitution nonsense is an enemy of freedom."

Corbett responded to Pratt’s attack...
"First off, I ask how many of them have served their country. As far as I know, Mr. Rohrer has never served his country in the military. To say I’m an enemy of freedom is absurd and ridiculous."
Corbett insists he’s a strict constructionist and conservative.
Acting on Corbett’s behalf, the state Republican Party distributed flyers last week attacking Rohrer for supporting the 2005 legislative pay raise and voting to increase lawmakers’ pensions.
Corbett says Rohrer isn’t a leader, arguing the Berks County representative hasn’t authored a single bill during his House tenure.

Interview With Candidate Sam Rohrer

There’s a final weekend of campaigning before voters go to the polls Tuesday for the Pennsylvania Primary. There are four Democrats and 2 Republicans seeking their parties’ respective nominations in the gubernatorial primary.
This week during Morning Edition and All Things Considered we are featuring one-on-one interviews with each of the candidates.
Republican Sam Rohrer is in his 17th year as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from Berks County. He calls himself a “Constitutional Republican” and has been courting Tea Party members.
He spoke with DUQ’s Scott Detrow
Listen to the interview.

Corbett: Benchmarks for Each Teacher

Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett wants to overhaul Pennsylvania’s teacher evaluation system.
Visiting a York charter school with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Corbett unveiled his education platform.
Corbett wants to change the way the commonwealth’s teachers are evaluated by looking at student testing data, but also creating individual benchmarks for each educator.

"Where do I need to improve? Do I need to improve in my skills of sitting with a student and taking them through my classroom presentation? Am I capturing the interest of my students? Teaching is a very unique profession. We’ve all known we’ve had very good teachers, and some not so good teachers."

Corbett says he’d work with teacher unions to overhaul teacher evaluations....
"We bring them in and sit them down at the table with us. As I have done everything in my career, we will sit down with the school boards, the teachers, the principals. How do we do this? How do we learn what improves the quality of the education of the student?"

Corbett says he supports the Rendell Administration’s increase in state basic education funding, but he wants to improve accountability benchmarks, to make sure schools are taking advantage of the money. Corbett is calling for an A through F school grading system, which would include student test scores, graduation rates and other factors.

Jeb Bush says he’s endorsing Corbett because “the era of big government is over.” He says that’s due to a mix of popular will, as well as the economy, which is forcing states to trim spending.
"Either way, limited government is going to be the norm. And I think it’s important to have principled, centered leaders that have the creativity and belief for us all that it’s true. That they would do it voluntarily if they had their druthers. And that they have the creativity and energy to make it a reality."

Corbett's opponent in the Republican Gubernatorial Primary, State Representative Sam Rohrer, unveiled his education proposals recently.

Rohrer: PA's Education Testing Standards "Too Rigid"

Republican gubernatorial candidate Sam Rohrer says he’d push for relaxed state-wide education testing standards, if elected.
Speaking to a Harrisburg education forum, Rohrer said Pennsylvania’s school curricula are centered too much around state and federal testing guidelines.

"You can’t test and measure, test and measure, test and measure, test and measure, the same way you do on a manufacturing line when you’re putting out a car. Because kids are different, and people are different, and teachers are different."

He said it’s a mistake to hold school districts accountable using only test scores.

"I believe that, yes – the state should have standards. But they ought to be goals of attainment. They ought not to be so specific that we are directing the hourly function of the teacher and the classroom, which is almost the way this has come."

Afterward, Rohrer argued Pennsylvania had been turning out well-educated students for hundreds of years, before federal benchmarks were put in place.
He says he’s in favor of setting standards, but argues they should be more flexible than the current guidelines put in place by the federal No Child Left Behind legislation.

UPDATE: Rohrer's opponent in the Gubernatorial Primary, Tom Corbett unveiled his education proposals May 3rd.

Gun Control Group Grades Candidates

Officials with the advocacy group CeaseFirePA say they're pleased with the Democratic gubernatorial candidates' support for gun control measures.
Joe Grace, the executive director of CeaseFirePA, says all four Democratic candidates supported a majority of the 18 reform issues they were asked about in the questionnaire.

"Two candidates are from western Pennsylvania, where it's particularly said that you can 't ever talk about gun violence prevention. And they are Jack Wagner and Dan Onorato. Both of those candidates support a majority of reforms proposed by CeasefirePA."

Those reforms include increasing penalties for the illegal possession of a handgun, requiring gun owners to report lost or stolen firearms, and banning assault weapons.

The group graded the candidates on their support for gun issues.
Joe Hoeffel received an A, and Anthony Williams was given an A-.
Dan Onorato got a B+, while Jack Wagner received a C+.
Republican Tom Corbett was given an F, since he didn't fill out the survey. President Phil Goldsmith says he's disappointed Corbett didn't respond to the questionnaire.

"And frankly, I think it's inexcusable that here, the state chief law enforcement officer - obviously a leading candidate for governor, basically was not willing to share his views with the people."

Corbett's GOP rival, Sam Rohrer, didn't do much better, in CeasefirePA's minds - he disagrees with them on every issue, and was given a D.

Rohrer: Cut Costs Elsewhere to Fund Transportation

Republican gubernatorial candidate Sam Rohrer says Pennsylvania is facing a 450-million dollar transportation funding gap due to "reprehensible financial irresponsibility."
For the past few years, the Turnpike has borrowed against anticipated I-80 tolling revenue.
Tolling dollars are also built into next year's transportation budget.
Rohrer, a Berks County representative, says banking on the proposal before it was approved was awful planning.
He says it's indicative of Governor Rendell's approach to budgeting, noting anticipated federal dollars in next year's spending plan.

"He's recommending a billion dollars more, for 29 billion, but banking on 800 million dollars coming from the federal government, from a program that has not yet been debated by Congress, that won't even be covered until the fall. But he says you can count on it, because it will be here."

Rendell has called for a special legislative session to find new transportation revenue. Rohrer says lawmakers need to reassess the state's transportation needs and cut spending from other line items before they consider raising taxes.
He says getting rid of prevailing wage mandates on transportation projects is one way to save money.

Six Gubernatorial Candidates Talk Reform

By and large, all six candidates for governor spoke from the same page last night during a Harrisburg forum focused on reform issues.
The four Democrats and two Republicans agreed on issues ranging from instituting campaign finance reform to eliminating legislative pay when budgets aren’t passed by the June 30th deadline.
Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato wants to see a merit selection system for statewide judges.

"I would support keeping county trial judges elected, but I think it’s time we look at appellate courts – Superior, Commonwealth, Supreme -- we look at merit selection. Because most people don’t know who the candidates are. And now with the influence of corporate dollars coming into the process, I think it’s time we look at it."

Republican Tom Corbett and Democrats Jack Wagner and Joe Hoeffel agreed with Onorato’s take.
Democrat Anthony Williams wants to see merit selection at the local level, as well.
Republican Sam Rohrer says he wants to stick to an election system, but he’d like judges to be able to freely discuss issues.
"That’s the problem, I think, that people have when we go to the polls. We don’t really know who the judges are, because we’re not able to find out what they believe, and how they’d pursue certain issues. Let them speak more freely."

Right now, judicial candidates aren’t allowed to give their specific opinion on matters that could come before their bench.
The four Democrats and two Republicans all supported letting independent voters participate in primaries.
Williams went a step further than his opponents, calling for a lower voting age.

"At 16 you’re able to work, you pay taxes. Guess what – everybody who sits up here, talks about the next generation paying all the debt that we’re acquiring. You should have the right to tell us 1) what kind of debt you’re responsible once you reach that age of maturity we define."

Republican Tom Corbett disagreed, saying voters need to reach an “age of maturity” before they cast ballots.
Auditor General Wagner says he supports same-day voter registration.

"It’s archaic in Pennsylvania to think that you have to register a month before the process, or you don’t qualify. You’re a citizen, you pay taxes, you participate in the Democratic process. You should be able to register right up to the day of the election."

Right now, new voters need to register about a month before the election.
Joe Hoeffel says the state needs to change its redistricting process.

"We have outrageous gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. I was a victim of it in 2000. Come on! It’s totally political, it’s wrong. We need districts for state House and state Senate and Congress that respect communities of interest, that are compact and are contiguous."

The gubernatorial primary is May 18.

Corbett, Rohrer Square Off in Candidates Forum

The new health care law and Attorney General Tom Corbett’s challenge to its constitutionality were the major topics at a Republican candidates forum sponsored by a Carbon County 9/12 project last night.
During the forum, Corbett insisted the lawsuit wasn’t political. After the event, he told reporters that Democrats are the ones making it a partisan issue.

"Just look at it – Dwight Evans is trying to influence the budget process. You’ve got the governor saying, he’s a nice guy but I don’t understand this. They’re the ones that are driving the politics. I would shut up about this if they shut up about it and let it go in the courts."

But Corbett spent much of his opening statement discussing the lawsuit. And he singled out the legal challenge when a questioner asked how he’d respond to overreaching by the federal government.

"I think last week clearly demonstrated what I’m willing to do."

Corbett’s primary opponent, state Representative Sam Rohrer, says he applauds the lawsuit. He says the health insurance mandate is a clear violation of the 10th Amendment.
Rohrer says if elected governor, he’ll eliminate Pennsylvania’s property taxes.
During the candidates forum, he said the state’s current structure is unconstitutional.

"Why, because it’s a freedom issue again. Not one person sitting in this room, or across this commonwealth, own your homes tonight. Not one person owns their private property. I guarantee you, you fail to pay your rent to government in the form of that tax check, and your landlord, the government, will throw you out of your home."

Rohrer would divert revenue from Marcellus Shale royalties and gambling taxes to school districts to compensate for lost property tax revenue. He’d also expand the state’s sales tax base.
Attorney General Corbett says Rohrer’s plan would never pass the General Assembly.
He also doubted whether the plan’s revenue figures add up.

Rohrer Supporter Not Fazed by Low Poll Numbers

A top strategist for Republican Sam Rohrer’s gubernatorial campaign says he isn’t fazed by a poll showing the Berks County State Representative with just five percent of the vote.
Attorney General Tom Corbett holds a commanding 43% to 5% lead over Rohrer in the GOP Pennsylvania primary, with about half of Republican voters undecided.
That’s compared to a wide-open Democratic field, where Dan Onorato leads the Quinnipiac University poll with just sixteen percent.
Senior Rohrer strategist Jeff Coleman says he’s confident the campaign’s grassroots efforts will pick up speed.

People are beginning to hear about him just now. This is a late entry into the race, and it will take a long time to develop what the frontrunner’s taken years to develop, and that is name recognition."

The Rohrer campaign has focused on holding scores of town hall meetings across the state. It’s also using an aggressive web strategy, with a heavy Twitter presence and ad purchases on niche political websites.
Nearly nine in ten GOP voters say they don’t know enough about him to form an opinion.

Non-Profits and the Budget

Four candidates for governor of Pennsylvania are split on whether or not the state should refund nonprofits who took out loans during last year’s 101-day budget impasse.
The gubernatorial hopefuls made their comments at a forum sponsored by the United Way.
When state funding to nonprofits and counties dried up last summer, many organizations took out large loans to pay their bills.
Democrats Dan Onorato and Joe Hoeffel say the state should fund those groups’ interest payments, but Auditor General Jack Wagner is more hesitant.

"Should we recoup those counties? Sure. If we could, yes. I’m not sure the state presently is in a fiscal condition to do that. Based on the serious financial challenges facing us, now, in the next budget."

Hoeffel says he’d stop all payments, if the state entered the new fiscal year without a spending plan.

"I won’t sign a temporary budget. I’ve seen this wreck the budget process in Harrisburg and in Washington. They don’t pass budgets on time in Washington. They sign—pass continuing resolutions, temporary budgets here. There have been seven straight late budgets. So no budget July 1, nobody gets paid."

Onorato criticized Governor Rendell for withholding funding from nonprofits during the 101-day budget impasse.

"And that’s what happened here. Because a lot of the other programs were funded. There was temporary budgets. There were payments being made to employees in other departments. And yet you have this department of human service bearing the political burden of this debate."

Republican Sam Rohrer says Pennsylvania government is running out of money, and may soon find itself in the same dire financial straits as California and other distressed states. Rohrer said the federal stimulus package did more harm than good.

"Because there’s two and a half billion dollars in this budget that will run out this year, that has to be made up. That’s the rub of where it goes from here. What should have done last year – spending reductions of about ten percent should have taken effect, and we’d be sitting here with a balanced budget."

All four candidates vowed to pass budgets by the July 1 deadline, if elected.
Republican Tom Corbett and Democrat Anthony Williams were both invited to the forum, but didn’t attend.

Corbett, Rohrer Debate

The two Republicans running for governor of Pennsylvania debated each other in a brief forum at the state Republican Committee’s winter meeting this weekend.
Attorney General Tom Corbett and State Representative Sam Rohrer laid out their platforms for State Committee members on the eve of the party’s endorsement vote.
Corbett, who won the GOP’s official nod the next day, said if elected, he’ll push for a two-year budget cycle.

"We’d reduce the cost of government in just the planning of the budget, which costs very much. That’s one aspect. It would bring certainty and predictability to the people who do receive state money, including the agencies, including the counties, including the school districts."

Rohrer says if he’s elected governor, he’d cut state spending by at least twelve percent focusing the reductions on three departments.

"Welfare, Education and Corrections. And I can guarantee you there are duplicity programs. There are things that we are doing there that we must not do and we cannot do, and frankly, exceed our ability to pay. So if we’re going to reduce spending we’ll have to go where we spend the most money."

Both Corbett and Rohrer promised not to raise taxes. Neither candidate likes Governor Rendell’s latest budget proposal, which would increase spending by about a billion dollars.

PA GOP To Endorse This Weekend

The Republican State Committee meets this weekend in Harrisburg to endorse candidates for governor, lieutenant governor and U.S. Senate.
In the governor’s race, Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett is expected to easily win the party’s official backing.
Political Scientist Christopher Borick of Muhlenberg College doesn’t think that would give Corbett’s campaign any additional momentum, though, since opponent Sam Rohrer, a Berks County representative, his branding himself as an outsider candidate.

"If he is to really get something going and pose a real challenge to Tom Corbett, it’s going to be from an outsider perspective. It’s going to be from the activists, the conservative voters in the state that align with him, and individuals who really are energized by the tea party movement to come out and mobilize for him."

Corbett holds a wide lead over Rohrer in most polls. Rohrer is holding a rival event during Saturday’s state committee meeting. It’s billed as a grassroots rally, and will feature a video endorsement from Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, and an appearance from Joe the Plumber, who gained fame campaigning for the Republican presidential ticket in 2008.
The GOP meeting comes a week after Democrats failed to endorse a candidate for governor. Auditor General Jack Wagner won more than fifty percent of the vote at the party meeting, but needed a two-thirds majority to win the endorsement.

Rohrer Wants To Debate Corbett Before Endorsement

Attorney General Tom Corbett’s poll numbers, fundraising efforts and key endorsements make him the favorite for the Republican gubernatorial nomination this year, but State Representative Sam Rohrer says those facts won’t knock him out of the party’s primary.
Roher is staking his claim as the conservative candidate in the race for Republican nomination.
When the Republican State Committee meets next month, it’s expected to officially endorse Attorney General Tom Corbett’s campaign for governor. Rohrer says that’s the wrong decision, and argues an open, contested primary is the best way to make sure the eventual nominee supports conservative issues.

"By pursuing a top-heavy, not a bottom-up, approach to candidate selection, Republicans are missing the best opportunity they ever had to build a strong ideas-driven party. By pandering to conservative groups instead of embracing their policy solutions, they are becoming a social club, not a vehicle for advancing key ideas."

The Berks County lawmaker says he’s worried an uncontested primary would let the eventual GOP nominee cater to independent moderate voters, and only pay lip-service to the party’s core conservative base. The Berks County lawmaker, who’s running on a platform of eliminating property taxes and reducing government spending, says he wants to debate Corbett before the state committee meets, though he concedes that likely won’t happen.

Rohrer Announces Canidacy For Governor

Berks County lawmaker Sam Rohrer has announced his campaign for the Republican Gubernatorial nomination. Rohrer, a ninth term lawmaker, is founding his campaign message on lowering taxes and resisting an "overbearing government." Rohrer would also like to change the way school systems are funded and increase performance by expanding school choice and empowering parents. The 54 year old announced his campaign during what he called a "Pennsylvania Town hall." Rohrer is running against Attorney General Tom Corbett and the U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach in the Republican primary.