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Corbett works to clarify comments made regarding the state's
unemployed
"I never meant to appear insensitive..."
By Shelley Castetter
July 12, 2010 12:02 PM
Interviewed today after an event being held for senior citizens in Hempfield, Lancaster County,
Republican candidate for Governor Tom Corbett, answered questions regarding comments he
made on Friday July 9th as he went to door-to-door in Elizabethtown also in Lancaster County.
Scott Detrow of Pennsylvania Public Radio, which includes local affiliate WITF, recorded Corbett
making several comments including the following: “The jobs are there. But if we keep extending
unemployment, people are just going to sit there ... I’ve literally had construction companies tell
me, I can’t get people to come back to work until…they say, 'I’ll come back to work when
unemployment runs out.'”
"At the time I was responding to a specific question, I had been asked" Corbett said. "I didn't
communicate clearly enough that my answer was related to that specific question. I never meant to
appear insensitive to our state's unemployed workers."
Pointing out that Pennsylvania's unemployment rate (as of May) was 9.1%, it's highest since 1980
Corbett said "That kind of number doesn't occur unless there is a serious problem. We definitely
need to develop better ways of connecting potential employers and employees." Corbett went on
to repeat his own plan to alleviate unemployment in the state which is detailed on his campaign
website: TomCorbettforgovernor.com.
Dan Onorato, Corbett's Democratic opponent, has used the comments to paint Tom Corbett who is
currently the state's Attorney General, as "out-of-touch" and someone who apparently has "...
never met someone who is unemployed". At a press conference held this morning on the steps of
the State Capitol, Onorato vigorously defended the state's unemployed saying: "People are
struggling to find work. No one can convince me that people don't have an incentive. The problem
is that the jobs went away. We have to get the jobs back."
unemployed
"I never meant to appear insensitive..."
By Shelley Castetter
July 12, 2010 12:02 PM
Interviewed today after an event being held for senior citizens in Hempfield, Lancaster County,
Republican candidate for Governor Tom Corbett, answered questions regarding comments he
made on Friday July 9th as he went to door-to-door in Elizabethtown also in Lancaster County.
Scott Detrow of Pennsylvania Public Radio, which includes local affiliate WITF, recorded Corbett
making several comments including the following: “The jobs are there. But if we keep extending
unemployment, people are just going to sit there ... I’ve literally had construction companies tell
me, I can’t get people to come back to work until…they say, 'I’ll come back to work when
unemployment runs out.'”
"At the time I was responding to a specific question, I had been asked" Corbett said. "I didn't
communicate clearly enough that my answer was related to that specific question. I never meant to
appear insensitive to our state's unemployed workers."
Pointing out that Pennsylvania's unemployment rate (as of May) was 9.1%, it's highest since 1980
Corbett said "That kind of number doesn't occur unless there is a serious problem. We definitely
need to develop better ways of connecting potential employers and employees." Corbett went on
to repeat his own plan to alleviate unemployment in the state which is detailed on his campaign
website: TomCorbettforgovernor.com.
Dan Onorato, Corbett's Democratic opponent, has used the comments to paint Tom Corbett who is
currently the state's Attorney General, as "out-of-touch" and someone who apparently has "...
never met someone who is unemployed". At a press conference held this morning on the steps of
the State Capitol, Onorato vigorously defended the state's unemployed saying: "People are
struggling to find work. No one can convince me that people don't have an incentive. The problem
is that the jobs went away. We have to get the jobs back."
| ANOTHER LANCASTER EXPRESS EXCLUSIVE! |