HARRISBURG — Republican Party of Pennsylvania Communications Director Megan Sweeney released the following statement regarding the Democratic gubernatorial candidates Tom Wolf and Rob McCord.
“Pennsylvanians learned a lot of troubling details about the pasts of the Democratic candidates this week. In the midst of a growing pension crisis, our state employees have learned that investing in Tom Wolf has cost them critical retirement funds. In addition, Tom Wolf’s is running his campaign on a philosophy of ‘spend first, pay later.’ Meanwhile, Pennsylvanians have to wonder if Rob McCord brought up his history of helping to send American jobs overseas while seeking union endorsements. No wonder the Pennsylvania Democratic Party rejected these gubernatorial candidates.”
Tom Wolf’s Profiting from PA Pensioners
Wolf Downplays Pennsylvania’s Pension Crisis “Our current pension situation is the direct result of almost ten years of the Commonwealth Paying less than its fair share. In contrast, Pennsylvania employees have been contributing at rates that are among the highest in the nation. What we have is a pension problem, not a crisis.” (“Tom Wolf for Governor: A Fresh Start!,” Tom Wolf for Governor, pg. 11, accessed 4/4/2014)
Investing in Wolf Costs State Employees: “The fund’s partial buyout of Wolf’s firm benefited him and his two cousins, but it has been a loss so far for the fund’s investors, the largest of which is Pennsylvania’s underfunded State Employees Retirement System (SERS). SERS voted in December 2004 to invest $50 million in the fund, said SERS spokeswoman Pamela Hile. SERS had invested in previous Weston Presidio funds since 1998.” (Joseph N. DiStefano, “Behind Tom Wolf’s business success, a more complicated picture,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 4/3/14)
Tom Wolf Spends Money He Doesn’t Have On His Campaign… “So where did Wolf get the $10 million of his own money that he has said will finance his campaign? Some of it — less than half, he says — wasn’t his own money, but a loan from M&T that he will have to repay. A smaller amount — but “more than $1 million’ — came from the sale of part of his stake in Irex Specialty Contracting, of Lancaster, one of his investments that were ‘illiquid’ in 2009. The rest, Wolf said, includes gains squeezed from the recovering stock market: ‘I really cobbled together everything I had.’” (Joseph N. DiStefano, “Behind Tom Wolf’s business success, a more complicated picture,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 4/3/14)
Rob McCord’s Hypocrisy on PA Jobs
McCord Touts Union Support…But Led An Organization Which Promoted Outsourcing Jobs: The Eastern Technology Council, a trade organization McCord led from 1996 to 2007, partnered with Judge Group, a consultancy which offered services to council members, including advice on how to outsource jobs overseas. (Thomas Fitzgerald, “McCord asked to defend outsourcing record,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 4/3/14)
McCord said it was done because of the “looming Y2K problem.” “In the ’90s in particular most places didn’t have IT offices and they were going through a lot of stuff,” McCord said in the meeting. (Thomas Fitzgerald, “McCord asked to defend outsourcing record,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 4/3/14)
But McCord’s organization was promoting outsourcing well after the Y2K scare. But McCord’s organization was promoting outsourcing well after the Y2K scare. In 2001, twice in 2005 and in 2007, the Eastern Technology Council held training sessions and discussions about outsourcing, both in webinars and in live meetings. (Thomas Fitzgerald, “McCord asked to defend outsourcing record,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 4/3/14)
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