Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Democrat Tom Wolf was inaugurated yesterday as the 47th Governor of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He succeeds Republican Tom Corbett, whom he defeated in the election last November. The inauguration took place in front of the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg.

Wolf, 66, and his running mate, newly sworn-in Lieutenant Governor Mike Stack, defeated Corbett and former Lieutenant Governor Jim Cawley by nearly ten percentage points in last November’s general election. As a result, Corbett became the first Pennsylvania Governor in modern times to lose a re-election bid.

In his inaugural address to a crowd of roughly 4,000, Wolf focused on his belief in the need for change, labeling himself an “unconventional” and “different kind of governor.” He touched on a number of issues including education, over which he and Corbett clashed during last year’s campaign, in addition to the economy and government reform.

“As your Governor, I will do everything in my power to make Pennsylvania a place where jobs pay, schools teach, government works … and where all Pennsylvanians can believe in the fundamental notion that our democracy still works”, Wolf said. “Because I know that if we come together with a sense of shared purpose, we can build the better future that Pennsylvania deserves.”

Items on Wolf’s gubernatorial agenda include raising the minimum wage, a five percent extraction tax on natural gas drillers and an increase in public school funding, among others. He is slated to propose his first budget to the Pennsylvania General Assembly on March 3 for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

Wolf, a native of York, Pennsylvania, previously served as secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue in the cabinet of former Governor Ed Rendell from 2007 to 2008. He was also chairman and president of his family’s building materials business, The Wolf Organization Inc. He holds a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a master’s degree from the University of London and a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth University.