Jun 1, 2013 3 min read

HARRISBURG – What is billed as the first candidates’ forum of Pennsylvania’s 2014 gubernatorial campaign may turn out to be the smallest.

Most of the more than a half-dozen Democratic hopefuls say scheduling conflicts will prevent them from appearing at the Midtown Scholar bookstore in Harrisburg Wednesday night, when citizens will be invited to step up to an open microphone and ask the would-be governors about anything for 90 minutes while the Pennsylvania Cable Network cameras roll.

As of Friday, only two candidates planned to participate: John Hanger, a state government veteran who has served as environmental protection secretary and utility regulator, and Max Myers, a minister and former Republican. Both are running their first election campaigns.

“There’s nothing better than a debate for voters to make judgments about a candidate’s seriousness and ability to govern,” said Hanger, who recently unveiled an $8 billion blueprint he says will create more than 380,000 Pennsylvania jobs. “I’m doing everything I can to put policy first and politics second.”

Myers, who advocates creating a citizen commission to seek solutions that do not require legislation or state funding, sees the forum as an “opportunity to talk to voters directly,” a campaign spokesman said.

The unconventional format “actually engages the public, which is what our whole campaign is about,” said spokesman Patrick McNally.

Harrisburg Hope, the community group sponsoring the event, invited Gov. Tom Corbett, who so far is unopposed for the Republican nomination in his expected re-election bid, but he also declined, citing scheduling conflicts.

Alan Kennedy-Shaffer, the group’s president, said canceling is not an option for the forum at a used- and rare-book shop that doubles as a community center in a neighborhood struggling to overcome poverty, petty crime and blight.

“Harrisburg Hope will move forward with Wednesday’s debate no matter who shows up because the community needs to be heard. We need to have a serious discussion of the issues,” he said.

Nearly a year out from next year’s primary, the forum seems to carry political benefits for candidates seeking to boost their name recognition. It will provide valuable exposure through PCN, which says it is carried by every cable system in the state and is viewed at least once a month by 3.8 million viewers. The network plans to record the forum and air it Thursday.

Yet U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, state Treasurer Rob McCord, former state Revenue Secretary Tom Wolf, former environmental protection secretary Kathleen McGinty, Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski and state Sen. Mike Stack all turned down invitations to the event, according to their campaigns.

“You would think on the surface it would be an easy gig for them,” said Terry Madonna, a pollster and political scientist at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster.

Most of the campaign representatives offered vague responses to questions about the nature of the scheduling problems and refused to be specific. But Schwartz campaign consultant Mark Bergman cited lingering uncertainty about which Democrats will become candidates as another factor in her decision not to participate.

“We are absolutely committed to a full debate schedule” once the field is clear, he said.

Madonna speculated that the candidates may be apprehensive about the open-mike format and the risk of being caught unprepared for a politically sensitive question. Besides, they may still be refining their positions at this early stage of the campaign while other debates and forums lie ahead.

“It could be they don’t see any advantage to it,” he said. “They probably see no political upside to doing it and considerable downside if they stumble.”