While Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial elections are more than 13 months away, students can potentially meet a future governor or even work on his or her campaign.
Tom Wolf, one of the Democratic candidates for governor of Pennsylvania, will be coming to speak at Huntsman Hall, room G60, tonight at 7 p.m. This talk — hosted by Penn Democrats — will give students an informal occasion to hear about Wolf’s platform, ask him questions and find out ways to get involved in his campaign.
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College junior and Penn Dems President Matthew Kalmans said “the goal is to bring as many candidates to campus [and give students] a chance to ask the hard hitting questions.”
Wolf’s appearance will mark the first of a series from Penn Dems that will continue through the semester and will bring Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidates and congressional representatives to campus. If the club feels inclined to support one candidate over the others, they may endorse that candidate in the race — as they have in the past with current Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.
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Check out these facts about the candidate before heading over to the talk:
1) Wolf received his bachelors degree from Dartmouth University, a master’s degree from the University of London and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
2) While still a student, he joined the Peace Corps and spent two years in a small town in India. As a philanthropist later in his career, he has served as board chairman of York County’s United Way and has been involved in various initiatives in South Philadelphia.
3) Wolf was the secretary of revenue during Gov. Ed Rendell’s administration. In this position, he expanded the state lottery and focused on providing benefits to senior citizens.
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4) Wolf planned to run for governor in 2009, but dropped out of the race to help save his company, The Wolf Organization, Inc. — a building materials producer. He used his own money to shift his company’s focus away from being a supplier to other firms and transformed it into a company that competes with Chinese products.
5) The backbone of his gubernatorial platform lies on two basic tenets — reforming the education system and generating jobs. Despite his long and successful business career, he told The Associated Press in April that “businesses are not in the trade of educating our kids.”
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