Opinion Story Submitted by Ben Gates
Jake Corman — or at least the campaign ‘Corman for Governor’ — is feeling a bit desperate and jealous of Doug Mastriano.
Corman is a Pennsylvania Senator serving the 34th district, which represents Centre, Huntingdon, Mifflin and Juniata Counties. On the surface it appears that he has many similarities to Senator Mastriano, representing the 33rd District. Both their websites support securing elections and improving the education system. Additionally, they support reforming emergency laws to restrict power in response to Governor Wolf’s COVID-19 shutdown actions.
Two candidates, with similar values should be in alignment for improving the state and representing their party. Corman, instead, has been attacking his colleague for media attention.
Instead of getting the attention of voters to support his run by focusing on the issues, Corman has established an unprofessional and reckless campaign. On CormanForPA.com in the donation section it says, “Every contribution helps us beat Tom Wolf’s hand picked successor Josh Shapiro.” The campaign currently has no focus on Shapiro and is bringing unneeded drama into the GOP.
Fighting within the party
Corman is currently focused on getting attention away from Mastriano and destabilizing GOP unity. His campaign “sent” a letter to Franklin County District Attorney Matt Fogal about discrepancies in Mastriano’s 2021 Campaign Finance report(s), where “flagrant and willful violations” were committed.
The issue is this: The letter was sent to the news media instead of DA Matt Fogal. Fogal, in fact still hasn’t received a copy of the letter. If a reporter hadn’t asked him for a comment, he still would unlikely be aware of it. If Jake Corman’s campaign was serious, the letter would first have sent it to Mr. Fogal rather than distribute it to media outlets.
This is a political stunt.
A poll showed Barletta favored for Governor (24.1%) and Mastriano (19.9%) a close second. Corman only had 5.1% of voter support. Days after the poll results, Corman was leading an attack on Mastriano.
In a letter to the media, District Attorney Matt Fogal said, “Please be fully assured that I will not be further dragged into a rancid, internecine affray amongst unserious and fanatical contestants for Governor. The true purpose of this Corman letter was the letter itself, so that it could be sent to the media in order to get attention.”
We agree.
Jake Corman political ad
This media ad put out by ‘Corman for Governor’ is child like and take all seriousness away from the campaign. Corman, take it seriously or take a seat.
This represents a major problem in today’s politics at all levels. It feels like government candidates want to be more like rockstars and big-name celebrities than public servants. They create issues to manipulate the public, news media and get their name out there. Corman has his name out more now, but voters will probably see this as petty and favor a more serious candidate.
READ: Matt Fogal, District Attorney: Statement Regarding Request of Investigation into Mastriano
