Pa. Gov. Wolf quibbles with ‘most liberal’ ranking

A list released recently names Pennsylvania’s Tom Wolf as the most liberal governor in the country. He prefers the term “practical.”

The ranking came from InsideGov, a product of data visualization company FindtheBest. Governors were evaluated using their campaign platforms, public statements, and voting records.

Wolf demurred on his first-place finish, saying on WITF’s “Smart Talk” that people should judge him by what he’s done.

“I’m standing up for public education. I’m standing up for two plus two equals four in a balanced budget. I’m standing up for property tax relief,” said Wolf. “I don’t care what you call that — liberal, conservative, I don’t know — but it’s practical.”

Wolf said the governors who came in second and third “most liberal” share his private-sector experience.

“The governor of Washington, the governor of Minnesota, and me. All three of us have a business background. That tells you something about that list,” said Wolf. “People with practical experience actually building something and doing something successful in the private sector — they’re the ones who are the most liberal? Maybe that tells you something about their definition of liberal.”

Wolf ran his family’s kitchen cabinet company.

A spokeswoman for Washington’s Jay Inslee said he was a partner in a small firm, but otherwise spent his career in government.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton’s spokesman said he briefly owned an investment business, but his biggest link to the private sector is his inheritance of the Target store fortune.