Facebook Scott Wagner, Republican candidate for Pennsylvania governor.
Republican candidate Scott Wagner threatened to stomp all over the face of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf with “golf spikes.” You can watch the video later in this article; Wagner’s campaign spokesperson later claimed Wagner didn’t mean the remark literally.
In it, Wagner, who is challenging Wolf in the Pennsylvania governor’s race, announces, “Governor Wolf, let me tell you between now and November 6, you better put a catcher’s mask on your face because I’m going to stomp all over your face with golf spikes because I’m gonna win this for the state of Pennsylvania, and we’re throwing you out of office.”
Governor Wolf’s spokesperson told PennLive that she wondered “if Wagner was channeling John Wayne, Clint Eastwood or Rambo in his latest unhinged rant.”
Here’s what you need to know:
Scott Wagner Made the Golf Spike Comment in a Facebook Live Video
You can watch Scott Wagner’s video in its entirety above. The caption with the video, which Wagner posted on Facebook, reads, “Scott has a blazing message for Tom Wolf — and it has nothing to do with ‘waving a white flag.’ People are tired of his lying, negative ads, and business owners are tired of his insults. #FixPA #FireWolf.” The video had more than 22,000 views as of the afternoon of Friday, October 12, 2018.
The more than two-minute video opens with Wagner saying he is standing in York, Pennsylvania. “Hey good afternoon, fellow Pennsylvanians,” he says in the video, adding that he was standing in front of a billboard put up by “Governor Tom Wolf and his Democrat cronies.”
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf
Wagner claimed that Wolf was behind unfair billboards and advertisements about his business history, saying, “the people of Pennsylvania are tired of your lies.” He said the governor was “really not very smart” and also accused the governor of “trashing small businesses.” He added, “I want to puke when I see those ads because small business owners have to collect their money.” He said the budget standoff harmed small businesses.
Next to Wagner was a chair filled with what he said were “paychecks” issued that day to employees working for him.
According to CBS News, Wolf alleged that Wagner’s company had “strong-armed 6,979 customers into paying their bills” previously. CBS added that the billboard was placed by PA Spotlight, “a left-leaning advocacy group.”
Wagner’s spokesman told PennLive that the golf spike comment was “not to be taken literally,” telling the news site, “He wanted them to be a metaphor for how he will approach the final stretch of the campaign.”
According to RealClearPolitics, Wolf has maintained a substantial lead in the polls.
Scott Wagner owns “several successful enterprises…including Penn Waste, one of the largest and most innovative (and cleanest) recycling plants in the nation,” his campaign website reports.
Tom Wolf, a Democrat, has been Pennsylvania’s governor since 2015. His website says, “Before he was governor, Tom was the owner of the Wolf Organization, a distributor of lumber and other building products. Tom bought this family business and grew the company — eventually more than quintupling the business in size. He did this with smart leadership and by treating his employees fairly, even sharing the company’s profits with workers.”