Rendell, Swann trade jabs one last time; Crime, education, property taxes focus of final debate before state elects a governor on Nov. 7

Gubernatorial candidates Ed Rendell and Lynn Swann leveled cordially worded attacks at each other's proposals Tuesday night in their last scheduled public showdown before the Nov. 7 election.

In the hour-long sparring that centered largely on crime, education and property taxes, Gov. Rendell repeatedly asked Swann, his Republican challenger, to join him in calling for a law restricting gun purchases to one a month.

After the debate at

WPVI-TV, the Democrat told reporters that if Swann joined him in supporting a one-gun-a-month bill, "it would be awesome" and one of the "most significant" things Swann would do in his career.

Swann said he would not take a position on the proposed gun restriction. "I'm not running Ed's campaign," he said, later describing Rendell's comments as "just a cheap political stunt."

When Rendell called for term limits for politicians, saying Pennsylvania needs "citizen soldiers not career politicians," Swann, who has never held office, said, "I think the governor just endorsed me."

The debate, sponsored by the League of Women Voters, the Commonwealth Foundation, a conservative organization in Harrisburg, and Common Cause, marked the second debate and third time the two candidates have faced off publicly.

At a forum organized by the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business two weeks ago, Rendell and Swann argued over the state's economy and business taxes. Their first official debate was last Wednesday in Pittsburgh.

Tuesday's debate resembled a rerun of the first one in some ways, with Rendell touting his accomplishments as governor, Swann questioning Rendell's achievements and both spewing statistics to support their claims.

On property taxes, Swann, who has proposed a plan linking property taxes to a home's purchase price, said the bill Rendell signed into law "falls short of property tax reform" and "doesn't do anything to reform the structure of property taxes in Pennsylvania."

Rendell replied that "for seniors this is a great bill," adding that 200,000 seniors would have their property taxes eliminated. The new law uses slot machine tax revenue to cut school property taxes.

"Five governors promised property tax relief I delivered," Rendell said.

On education, Swann pointed to low Advanced Placement test scores by black students in Pittsburgh and said the achievement gap between black and white students is too high. He proposed creating education zones to target the problem.

Rendell responded by saying the education achievement gap between white and minority students is narrowing, thanks to the state's investments in early childhood education. "We put a tremendous amount of money into early childhood, and it's showing up in test scores," Rendell said, adding improvements in students' scores are not "improvement by accident."

Asked about the upward spiral of college tuition and the state's "brain-drain" dilemma caused by college graduates fleeing to other states for jobs, Swann called for a creating a "better environment" to "create more jobs."

Rendell pointed to new jobs created since he took office "to keep our people here," and said state funding to community colleges has increased by 26 percent since he took office four years ago.

When Swann stopped short of directly answering crime questions, like which of the 100 bills discussed by legislators last week he would support, Rendell responded by saying, "Let me try to answer the question." He went on to talk about the one-gun proposal and money spent to add police officers to the streets.

Swann also said he supported additional law enforcement.

As he has done for weeks, Swann criticized Rendell for signing the bill raising lawmakers' salaries last year. Rendell said again it was a mistake.

Despite the spats, there were some points on which both candidates agreed. Both described attempts to make English the official language as a bad idea, and both said they would support limiting the size of the Legislature.

They also talked about whether the state should help the Philadelphia Zoo, which is losing its elephants to the Baltimore Zoo because of funding problems.

The debate came one day after a Muhlenberg College poll showed Rendell maintaining his double-digit lead over Swann, 56 percent to 45 percent with 9 percent undecided. Still, both candidates insisted the poll results won't change their campaign.

"Did I look over-confident tonight? No, I take this stuff very seriously," Rendell told reporters.

Swann said he wasn't concerned about the polls. Then he left the television studio, where about a dozen supporters, flanked by a slightly smaller group from the Rendell camp, waved signs for their candidates.

The debate, moderated by a panel of Philadelphia journalists, was broadcast live by WPVI and other television stations.

MISSED IT?

The debate between Democrat Ed Rendell and Republican Lynn Swann will be rebroadcast on Pennsylvania Cable Network at 10 p.m. today and 3 p.m. Sunday.