GOP Candidate For Governor: 'Thomas The Tax Engine Wolf Is Driving Away Business'
Philadelphia (CBS) - Paul Mango, a health care executive from Pittsburgh, declared his candidacy for the Republican nomination for governor of Pennsylvania in 2018, firing a shot at Gov. Tom Wolf during an interview with Chris Stigall on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT over tax rates in the commonwealth, which he believes are holding back business growth.
"We have all of the ingredients to be an economic powerhouse. We have unlimited energy resources. I talked to six or seven other governors around the country, you know what they all say? We would trade you tomorrow for what you have in Pennsylvania. We have unbelievable energy resources. We have unbelievable technologies coming out of our universities. If you think about what's happening with robotics and and artificial intelligence and 3D printing and shell biology, we're global leaders in those technologies. We just can't commercialize them because we have Thomas 'The Tax Engine' Wolf in Harrisburg who is driving away business with high corporate taxes, the highest unemployment tax in the nation... and he doesn't permit our entrepreneurs to recognize the fact that you have to make an investment in your businesses before you can return anything and pay taxes on it. It's the squandering of a huge opportunity."
Mango said he felt compelled to join the race in order to give something back.
"I look at the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and I said we could not be underperforming more than we are right now and a guy with all of the blessings I've had, to sit on the sidelines, to me, would be, simply, unpatriotic. I made the decision late last year that it's time for me to step up and hop back into public service, which is where I started my adult life."
He promised that, if elected, he will reform a Harrisburg that he believes is stuck in the past.
"I'm a problem solver. That's what I've done for the last 25 years. I've led large institutions through major change processes... When change is needed in large organizations, it's usually a function of two things, very obsolete mindsets about what their customers want or very restrictive cultures that preclude them from changing with the demands in the external environment...If you want to hear about exhibit A, just look toward Harrisburg because Harrisburg has both of those characteristics. The challenge we have is someone who can lead the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania through a significant change process and bring it into the 21st Century."