HARRISBURG -- Before endorsing a gubernatorial candidate Feb. 13, the Republican State Committee should hold a statewide televised debate between the two candidates, Attorney General Tom Corbett and state Rep. Sam Rohrer, Mr. Rohrer said today.

Most political observers expect Mr. Corbett, a Shaler resident who is leading in the polls, to be easily endorsed by the committee of GOP officials from around the state.

Mr. Rohrer, of Reading, is from the conservative wing of the party, and complained to the Pennsylvania Press Club that the state committee uses a "top-heavy approach" to picking candidates when it should be using a "bottom-up approach."

Mr. Rohrer said the proposed debate should be aired on the Pennsylvania Cable Network so "people could ask each candidate the tough questions. We should give rank-and-file Republicans a window into the (endorsement) process," not just a few hundred Republican officials from across the state who sit on the state committee.

Asked about the debate, Mr. Corbett, as he was eating lunch with staffers in a food court across the street from the Capitol, said, "I will not tell the state committee what they should do or should not do."

"I have worked with the state committee since 2003 and the members know who I am," he said. Then he noted that Mr. Rohrer was the only gubernatorial candidate who skipped a Jan. 16 statewide debate before the Pennsylvania State Education Association that was shown on PCN.

"That debate was televised, but he chose not to present his views to the public," Mr. Corbett said. "He missed the opportunity to present his views. He said he had a scheduling conflict."

Some political observers think Mr. Rohrer skipped that debate because PSEA is a major teachers' union, and many of Mr. Rohrer's conservative supporters favor home schooling, school choice and other alternatives to public schools, where teacher unions are powerful.

Mr. Rohrer told the press club luncheon there simply was a scheduling problem that didn't allow him to be at the PSEA event.

He also said Republicans shouldn't be afraid of a primary in May, because it will energize the party's base and force candidates to detail their positions on issues. Some GOP officials want Mr. Rohrer to drop out so Mr. Corbett doesn't have to spend a lot of money defeating him, which could hurt Mr. Corbett in the fall against the Democratic candidate.

Mr. Rohrer pledged to avoid all tax increases as governor and said he would resolve state budget problems by "cutting spending," not by "dipping into businesses' or taxpayers' wallets. We must control this out-of-control (state) spending."

He also said his vote for the legislative pay raise in 2005 was a huge mistake, but he said that before the issue came up for a vote, he'd given a commitment to House leaders that he would vote for it.

"I wish I had never made the pay raise vote," he said. I mistakenly committed to it before the vote was held and it was a matter of keeping my word and promise."

He also said his vote in 2001 for an expensive increase in pensions for retired state workers and public school employees was a mistake, but he blamed that vote on "information from our leadership that was not accurate. That (vote) was a learning experience."

State officials still haven't figured out how to raise the $3 billion or more that will be needed by mid-2012 to pay for those pension increases.

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