Scott Wagner was far more specific in his presentation. He spoke to opioids and to a broken pension system with some level of specificity.

Eliminating school property taxes will likely never happen in our lifetimes or in his, as great as that sounds. He managed to touch on all major issues and with a continued Republican dominance in the state legislature some or many of his proposals could come to fruition. It is good he is committed to taking on the pension issue.

One health care difference between the candidates stood out. It was their answer to the question of lowering the cost of coverage. Wolf provided nothing specific. Wagner favors following in the footsteps of states such as Oregon, Minnesota, Maryland and New Jersey and others who have applied for waivers to enable these states to tailor health plans to the needs of their sickest individuals. That seems to be working, according to a recent Forbes magazine article. Wagner has done his homework in this important area.

Tom Wolf did a little too much tooting own horn — that's what politicians do. He was too light, if non-existent, on specifics. He listed only very broad generalizations about another four years.

We don't actually have much idea about a legislative agenda that he would pursue or how he would pursue it. It seems one could substitute any state name and state capital for the words "Pennsylvania" and "Harrisburg."

Ken Krawchuk’s proposal to privatize public education is a nonsensical non-starter, as is Paul Glover’s plan for the state to “buy back” and eliminate college debt.

WE RECOMMEND: SCOTT WAGNER



—

Contributing editorial board members include: Alan Gaudio, Dr. Marion Mass, Dick Sakulich as well as Executive Editor Shane Fitzgerald.