BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) - With household name recognition in short supply, a big field of would-be Democratic Party challengers to Gov. Tom Corbett made their case to more than 100 party faithful Wednesday night as the campaign gets underway in earnest.
The six candidates who showed up at Lehigh University’s Iacocca Hall rotated between six tables, each set up with a moderator to focus on one issue: education, environment, senior citizens, equal rights, reproductive rights and labor.
One candidate, former state environmental protection secretary and White House environmental adviser Katie McGinty, kidded afterward that it was like “speed dating.”
Many of the registered Democratic voters who showed up had yet to make up their minds, and some were just learning the names of the candidates for the first time.
“I think right now it’s going to be a fascinating race,” said Bruce Taggart, a vice provost for library and technology services at Lehigh University who said he is undecided.
The education and environment tables drew the biggest crowds, and the tone at the environment table was occasionally set by people opposed to fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, a controversial practice used by the booming oil and gas exploration industry in Pennsylvania and the rest of the nation.
There was no love for Corbett at the event.
“What doesn’t bother me about him?” said Kyle O’Brien, of Lehighton.
Bonne Bosco of Allentown showed up Wednesday night looking for a candidate willing to support a moratorium on fracking.
She didn’t exactly get that from John Hanger, a state environmental protection secretary under former Gov. Ed Rendell. What she did get was a face-to-face explanation of his position: He would stop natural gas drilling on public lands and stop drilling by companies that are the worst violators of safety regulations. But gas drilling must go on, he said, because stopping it would mean more energy from oil and coal.
He also said he would double energy efficiency, quadruple wind energy and increase solar power by 10 times in Pennsylvania.
If she didn’t exactly get the answer she wanted, Bosco at least got a souvenir.
“Can I take a selfie with you?” she asked, raising her smartphone.
“Sure,” he agreed.
In any case, she seemed satisfied that he had at least taken a position on the issue, but not persuaded. Later, she said she had been impressed by Max Myers, a little-known Pentecostal minister, after hearing him speak on education.
Besides McGinty, Hanger and Myers, also appearing were businessman and former state Revenue Secretary Tom Wolf, Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski and Lebanon County Commissioner Jo Ellen Litz.
Two other candidates in the May 20 primary, state Treasurer Rob McCord and U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, did not attend, citing scheduling conflicts.
The forum was sponsored by area Democratic Party organizations, as well as Service Employees International Union Local 668. Candidate forums are also scheduled for Friday in Harrisburg and Sunday in Pittsburgh.
Taggart said he will support the candidate who shows they are serious about investing in university research into the industries of the future, from pharmaceuticals to nanotechnology.
“How about a real big, kind of idea and direction? A game-changer for the state of Pennsylvania?” he asked.
By the end of the night, he was, he said, impressed by McGinty’s proposal to impose taxes on natural gas drilling and sales of cigars and smokeless tobacco and to invest it in education.
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