Tom Corbett, currently Pennsylvania Attorney General, is the Republican contender for Pennsylvania governor, decisively defeating his one challenger in May’s primary 75 percent to 25 percent. Turning 61 this month, Corbett has spent most of his career in private and public law practice.

In his primary win acceptance speech, Corbett said “Tonight, we start a new journey to begin to take Pennsylvania back.”

Born June 17, 1949 in Philadelphia and raised in Pittsburgh, Corbett is married and has two children. He graduated from Lebanon Valley College in 1971 with a Bachelor’s degree in political science and taught 9th grade civics and history in Pine Grove Area High School in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania for a year before entering law school and earning his degree from St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas in 1975. He was assistant district attorney in Allegheny County from 1976 to 1980; was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to assistant US attorney in the Western District of Pennsylvania from 1980 to 1983; then moved into private practice at the Pittsburgh law firm of Rose, Schmidt, Hasley and DiSalle through 1989. While a member of the firm, he began his political career, winning a term as township commissioner for Shaler Township, Pennsylvania.

Corbett was appointed in 1989 by the first President Bush to serve as US attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, which he held until 1993 and served as a liaison on behalf of all U.S. Attorneys during the transition between the Bush and Clinton administrations. Again, he entered private practice, this time at Thorp, Reed and Armstrong from 1993 to 1995, when he was asked by then Gov. Tom Ridge to fill the state Attorney General position. As a condition of confirmation, he was not allowed to run for reelection and in 1997 Corbett again returned to private practice, eventually forming his own law firm, Thomas Corbett and Associates, specializing in consultation and government relations, through 2004. From 1998 until 2002, he worked in government affairs for Waste Management Inc. He won the election for Pennsylvania Attorney General in 2004 and was reelected in 2008.

For much of his legal career, Corbett has been a victims’ rights advocate. During his 3½ years in the DA’s office, he specialized in prosecuting rape and homicide cases, which also brought him closer to the victim advocate community, working with The Center for Victims of Violent Crime in Allegheny County. In 1988, he was appointed to serve as monitor to the Allegheny County Jail while it was under court supervision. While US attorney, he created the first-ever award for victim advocacy in Western Pennsylvania, and under Governor Ridge he recommended the creation of a statewide Weed and Seed program modeled after the federal program. He also served as chair of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.

Like his opponent, Corbett is against raising taxes and is for reducing and possibly eliminating property taxes if another reliable source can be found to fund public schools and governments, but no plan is forth-coming at this time. He believes that to make Pennsylvania more competitive, business tax burdens must be reduced and regulatory barriers that are crushing our job creators and sending jobs to other states cut. Government reform is also on his agenda, and he states he’ll “provide open, transparent, accountable and trustworthy government that puts Pennsylvania taxpayers first.” His website states that “for democracy to work effectively citizens must have confidence and trust in their government and those elected to represent them,” and that he’s “committed to rooting out corruption, waste, fraud and abuse from any source and will bring about a culture of change, reform and certainty to Harrisburg that will get us back on track and moving in the right direction.”

Corbett’s past private practice and current party-line agenda, however, may well discount his public persona as a crusader in the public interest. His time in private practice for client Waste Management Inc., and subsequently in public office, saw numerous anti-public actions that he defended on their behalf. The firm repeatedly was fined by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for committing environmental and safety violations, including the secret and illegal dumping of hazardous medical waste. When East Brunswick Township passed an ordinance banning the dumping of waste sludge, Corbett, as AG, filed suit to overturn the ordinance, arguing that citizens had “no inherent right to local self government.”

More recently, Corbett’s joining with other Republican state attorney generals in attacking Democrat President Obama’s health initiatives, regardless of where individuals stand on the issue, is a clear party-line initiative, one that unfortunately spends the very tax dollars Corbett says he’ll save as governor.

Corbett is Roman Catholic, and opposes abortion rights. He has said as long as the Roe v. Wade decision stood, the movement would see limited gains. “We have a Supreme Court decision that we have to live with. As long as nothing changes there, nothing can change.” He is pro-gun rights.

For more information on Tom Corbett, visit attorneygeneral.gov/theoffice.aspx?id=42, tomcorbettforgovernor.com/meet-tom-corbett and facebook.com/#!/corbettforgov. You can email him at tomcorbettforgovernor.com/contact.