Tom Wolf tours Philly window factory, punches back at Corbett over pensions

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Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf toured a Philadelphia door and window factory today in his campaign to unseat Republican Gov. Tom Corbett.

Wolf often touts his track record running a successful cabinet making company. So when he toured Northeast Building Products he told the employees who gathered in the cafeteria that he understands their work more than most other politicians would.

 “When you’re actually talking to the end user — the customer — they want to know what has gone into all these things: How the glass doesn’t frost up when the weather’s wrong and I saw all the things that you do and I noticed how careful you are.”

He said he believes American workers can outsell imports when it comes to price and quality.

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“I think one of the impediments to manufacturing in the United States is the…almost the sense of defeat – that we can’t do this,” Wolf said. “And I know I was guilty of that when I started doing kitchen cabinets.”

Gov. Corbett is touring the state discussing his plan to overhaul Pennsylvania’s public pensions and criticizing Wolf for not offering his own alternative. Wolf responded that Corbett is glossing over how many pension payments governors have missed while calling for new kinds of pensions. “What are we going to do about the under-funded liability that exists out there that is the result not of plan design but of not having made contributions over the last 12 or 14 years when they should have?” asked Wolf, noting public employees were making contributions during that time.

Wolf said in the private sector, an employer couldn’t get away with that.

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