State Attorney General Tom Corbett has been on the political scene since Ronald Reagan was in office.

In fact, after starting his career as a criminal prosecutor in Allegheny County, where he also served as an assistant district attorney, he became an assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania where he focused in prosecuting drug and organized crime cases. Corbett was one of the first members to be appointed to Reagan’s National Drug Task Force.

But by 1989 President George H. W. Bush dragged Corbett out of private practice and appointed to become the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

And while this is not his first election, in the 1980s he won an election for Shaler Township commissioner, Corbett is the Republican candidate running in the gubernatorial race. However despite his business schedule he agreed to an interview with Delaware County Magazine.

DCM: I really appreciate this. How was your day today?

Attorney General Tom Corbett: Full. (laughs out loud)

DCM: I can imagine.

Corbett: It started at 7:15 this morning, going on FOX & Friends and it ends when I get back to Harrisburg at 10 o’clock.

Well, I’ll make sure that your day isn’t any fuller.

DCM: What do you hope to do accomplish as governor?

Corbett: Putting Pennsylvania back on track and going in the right direction is the shortest way to put that. We need to make Pennsylvania competitive with the rest of the country. Right now we’re not competitive with other states and we’re losing many of our children to other states. In fact the statistic is 25 percent of all the children born, raised and educated in Pennsylvania leave to find opportunities somewhere else. That’s not good for the future of Pennsylvania. We need to make Pennsylvania competitive to keep the jobs here, to keep our children here, keep our future here in PA. We need to improve PA right now so we’re competitive with other states.

DCM: The state’s feeling the economic crunch like other states in the country. What type of programs would you like to implement as governor to help stimulate Pennsylvania’s economic growth?

(Mr. Corbett unknowingly answered the following question, “A lot of area businesses have been hit hard with this economy, with many business owners having to close their shops. How will you help small-business owners?” in his response.)

Corbett: Well the first thing we have to do to simulate growth is follow three principles. Fiscal discipline, … which means reducing the size of budget, reducing the spending that has been going on in the last eight years. We have increased our spending by 40 percent, the cost of living has only went up by 20 percent. We really don’t have the money for that. We’ve raided every rainy day fund, every separate fund we could possibly tap into to balance the budget. We’ve used stimulus money to balance the budget. That money all disappeared last year. The first thing we need to do is have that fiscal discipline.

We need to reduce the size of government. … We have to cut the spending in government considerable. A lot of that will come when you reduce the spending.

And finally, allow the free enterprise system to work. That is so what’s very important because it’s a free enterprise system that that allows large and small (businesses) to create jobs. … About 50 percent of the employed in Pennsylvania work for small business. They’re the ones that provide jobs in Pennsylvania, not the government. That’s how you will stimulate the economy.

DCM: What issues have you found voters asking you the most about?

Corbett: Not so much asking, but more so telling me they’re tired of paying taxes. They’re angry at Harrisburg, and angry at Washington, they’re angry at over regulation. They want businesses to be able to function and they want business to grow. And I agree with them. I don’t see how increase taxes will help to bring jobs in Pennsylvania. If anything, it causes jobs to leave Pennsylvania. And that’s exactly what they (voters) want, they want jobs now and they want jobs for the future.

DCM: Senior citizens are facing tough times with drug coverage issues and insurance. What are some of the ways you are planning to help seniors deal with drug and insurance costs?

Corbett: Seniors who still have the PACE (Prescription Assistance) program and that’s funded by the federal honor and we need to continue that. We don’t know where we’re going in health care in this country, the health care bill was passed and it is subject to litigation, which I’m a part of. I’m not sure exactly how that health care legislature right now helps seniors on the drug side. We do have Medicare and Medicaid, but we’re paying for that in part to the drugs. But we need to bring a better system here. One of the ways I think you bring a better system is start getting more people employed and you start cutting taxes so people do have the money to spend.

DCM: With education one of the big issues for voting parents, many students in the state are not meeting basic scores on standardized tests. How would you help Pennsylvania’s children not only meet basic requirements, but go beyond them?

Corbett: Well, we always hear about this basic tests and basic scores. There are two different comparisons, one that is state tests and one that is national tests. We’re not meeting the national side that I understand. We have to give them better quality education. One of the things that my campaign is talking about, and what I’m talking about, is bringing competition to education.

We believe and what I believe is every child is entitled to a quality education no matter where they live. And we haven’t been providing that to them. The measurements I used to see if kids are going to succeed is, did they graduated from high school at this point? We know that the dropout rate in Pennsylvania in 30 percent and that’s a bad time in Pennsylvania. That’s three out of 10 are dropping out. We need to change that because those dropouts eventually - the vast majority of the cases – become clients of the states. And thus a lot of taxpayer mommies are supporting them. So we need to be investing their dollars more wisely in education.

More money doesn’t mean we need to just step stuff up. We have to ensure we’re spending it well. I’m a supporter of the charter schools, I’m a supporter (Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program) and I’m the supporter of vouchers. And I’m a supporter of Sen. Williams’ bill and I talked with him a number of times. And publically came out about that five to six weeks ago. I know my opponent just came out to agree to it the other day which I’m going to find very interesting because the State Education Association is not in favor of that but yet they’re supporting him. You decide why he came out to do that. (Editor’s note: State Sen. Anthony Williams, D-Philadelphia, introduced Senate Bill 1405, also known as Opportunity Scholarship Act, back in July which is designed to expand educational choices for the state’s students.)

But we need to bring competition and competition makes us all healthy.

DCM: According to Pennsylvania’s Voter Registration Statistics, since the end of 2009 until April of this year, 10,077 Republicans have switched to the Democratic Party. Since the state is Democratic Country, does this worry you that some within your party are switching sides?

Corbett: I’m not worried about who is switching sides, but I’m looking at the voters of Pennsylvania and will they will vote for me and if my campaign appeals to them. You should know that in 2008, a big very Democratic year, with 1.2 billion Democrats than Republicans, my campaign was successful and I was successful and I received over 3 million votes, the highest total any Republican in the history of Pennsylvania ever got. Because I think as a candidate I think it’s “How will they come and vote for me” not exactly how they’re registered.

DCM: An investigating grand jury stated this past May that the Pennsylvania legislature is involved in public corruption and suggested major changes, including cutting staff and even placing term limits for those in office. What are your thoughts on this?

Corbett: Well, the indication of grand jury was done by one of my attorney, who was involved with the grand jury that issued that report. I believe that we need reform in Harrisburg. It’s one of the reasons why I’m running. A lot of that can be done from the leadership from the governor’s office. A lot of that has to come from the legislature also. I’ve called for the elimination of land, called for the reporting of money expensive. …I think the next governor can lead by example and we will do that. We will have openness and transparency in government and that’s what we’re going to do.

DCM: State revenue officials back in May said the state budget deficit was more than $1 billion and growing. Whose fault do you think it is for allowing this to get out of hand and what steps are you planning on taking to reduce the deficit?

Corbett: Well, once we didn’t have a deficit and we had a balance-budget amendment. The legislature now has to come up with money that they were short of. There is only two entities that are responsible for the state budget, the governor is one and the second one is the general assembly. They’re the ones that are directed under the registry under law to come up with a budget that balance the revenues and the expenditures. They didn’t do that last year. They’re going to have to make up for that this year but we can’t continue to run on deficit budgets.

DCM: As a husband and father running for the highest office in the state, how tough has it been for you to spend some quality time with your family and friends?

Corbett: You know, we’ve been doing this now for a year and half to two years. My family, my children are adults, my daughter is 31 and she’s the assistant district attorney in Philadelphia. Actually, the campaign gets me to Philly so I can see her a bit more. She just got married back in May.

My son is in Pittsburgh and he’s back in school to getting a Master’s in entertainment in technology in Carriage Mellon University. I see him on occasion when I’m in Pittsburgh. We spend a lot of time with my wife and I in Harrisburg. She took a leave of absence from her job at the Gettysburg Foundation, which is a foundation that works with the parks service to create a new visitor’s center and museum in Harrisburg in order to come out on the campaign trail either with me or on separate events. We spend quality time with each other.