It Would Be Great To Get Allyson Schwartz Out Of Congress, But Is She The Best Pennsylvania Democrats Can Come Up With For Governor?

John Hanger

Allyson Schwartz is a champion of women's rights. Other than that, though, hers is a profile in cowardice. Right-wingers call her a liberal-- which her miserable voting record shows she isn't-- and she moves to the right. She's exactly what is not needed in the already dysfunctional political system. Pennsylvania would almost be better off with an outright conservative being pressured to move towards the center, than with Schwartz, who is already right-of-center and will always give in to pressure to move right.

A vice chair of the corrupt, Big Business-owned New Dems, Schwartz has amassed a putrid voting record, one of the worst from any Democrat in a deep blue (safe) district. On crucial roll calls, her career-long ProgressivePunch score is a pathetic 76.70. But since she decided to run for governor, she's begin following Boehner and Cantor much more dramatically and this session her score is an even more dismal 55.56. Some liberal! Good on Choice though!

There are much better Democrats running for the gubernatorial nomination. In the recent past we've profiled John Hanger and Tom Wolf, each one a far better choice than Allyson Schwartz. This week, Hanger made the case for not settling for a mediocre candidate like Schwartz:

Why not the best? Virtually all the Democratic candidates for governor are beating Corbett in polling, so voters do not need to settle for second or third best. Voters can answer the question, “Who would be the best next governor?” The media would serve the public by exploring this question, as opposed to focusing on the political horse race more than 13 months before the May, 2014 primary.

Governor Casey told me in 1993 when he nominated me to be a Commissioner of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission that the test of a public official is not that he or she won or gained an appointment to office, but instead what he or she did, “when he had the power,” to make life better for the people of Pennsylvania.

I have an unmatched record of accomplishments, inside and outside government, which demonstrates my ability to make change and get things done for the people and economy of Pennsylvania. This record of accomplishment shows that I will implement the policies that I am promoting in my campaign.

What I did in the past to make Pennsylvania better shows that I can and will improve public education; strongly regulate and reasonably tax gas drilling; create thousands of jobs through public-private partnerships in health care, transportation, agriculture, manufacturing; double renewable energy; protect our air, land, and water with a Growing Greener III initiative; and defend the liberty of all Pennsylvanians.

During my term as a commissioner on the Public Utility Commission, I:

• Saved Pennsylvania families and businesses billions of dollars by building a bi-partisan effort that capped electricity rates at 1996 levels for 14 years and ended electricity generation monopolies that allowed more than two million Pennsylvania electricity customers to shop for cheaper and cleaner power;

• Created customer assistance programs for struggling working families to help with gas and electric utility bills.

In the private sector, I led successful campaigns that:

• Passed Pennsylvania’s landmark Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act that built a renewable energy industry, created tens of thousands of jobs and attracted $3 billion in private investment to the Commonwealth;

• Gained overwhelming voter approval for the $625 million Growing Greener bond, the biggest investment in conservation in Pennsylvania history.

As secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, I:

• Enacted five new rules to strengthen regulation of natural gas drilling;

• Doubled natural gas well inspectors;

• Issued 1200 notices of violations to gas drillers and multimillion dollar fines;

• Wrote the moratorium on further leasing of state forestland for gas drilling that Governor Rendell issued by executive order;

• Supported and implemented energy savings law that created conservation programs and helped families and businesses save billions on electricity bills;

• Implemented the Pennsylvania Sunshine Program that built 6000 solar energy projects.

I have managed two critical state agencies-- the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection-- with thousands of employees and budgets totaling $800 million.

Campaign slogans and promises must be backed up by demonstrated ability to lead. My 28-year career in public service both inside and outside government shows that I have the ability, executive experience, accomplishments, fact-based ideas and the compassion to be Pennsylvania’s next governor.