Governor Tom Corbett's Pittsburgh Opera Honor Stirs Controversy

PITTSBURGH -- The Phantom of the Opera may be fine, but opera fans say Gov. Tom Corbett is a problem.

"I'm kind of horrified by the rationale the opera is using to justify this," said Kathleen Andreassi of Butler, who's been a fan of the Pittsburgh Opera for about 10 years. Andreassi, 61, was one of hundreds of people who posted notes of protest on the opera's Facebook page.

"Any respect I had for the Pittsburgh Opera is now gone! You are honoring the man who has cut 1 BILLION dollars from the education budget in one year. Really? Please don't ask for financial support from me again," Andreassi said in post.

The award will be made this Saturday at the opera's annual end-of-season benefit gala. The Corbett's were selected for the honor in October, and the opera described the reasons in a statement last month.

"Gov. Corbett will be honored for his early work as a teacher as well as his long-standing protection of the public interest as Pennsylvania attorney general. Additionally, as governor, he has recognized the economic, educational and social value of the arts.

"Mrs. Corbett has been an accomplished producer and presenter of arts programs through the years, and, as First Lady, has championed greater participation in the arts in her role as chair of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts," the opera said.

Corbett spokesman Kevin Harley says the governor and first lady are thrilled about the award.

"People can protest whatever they want. It is the season of protest," Harley said. "The governor has supported the arts throughout his public life and so has the first lady."

Over 300 people have questioned the award on the opera's Facebook page, and a local blogger says her post on the subject has gotten over 7,000 hits this week.

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Comments

[Mary Ann Dewitt]

08:12 AM on 06/08/2012

you have got to be kidding Tom Corbett is getting an award

[fastfred]

06:06 PM on 05/14/2012

This nomination is equivalent to awarding Hitler and company an award for population control. A man and wife team that has cut education budget by a 'BILLION" dollars and at the same time refuses to TAX Corporate GAS and OIL GREED Companies. YOU HAVE to be Kidding!!!!

[fastfred]

05:59 PM on 05/14/2012

They couldn't have picked a worse candidate if they would've choose to Honor Steve Jobs as a great humanitarian. This the man who single handily dismantling PA education and social safety nets for the less fortunate. What a travesty of Right and Wrong leave it to the elite to Honor their OWN to the Manor Born. They should give him an OUT HOUSE award because he is full of it??????

[Jane Heather McKee]

06:25 AM on 05/11/2012

There is not one public school in the state that could thank Corbett for any contributions to either arts or education. He made sure to support the Opera, because many of its patrons are the corporate heads to whom he caters.

[clayfisher]

11:56 AM on 05/10/2012

Tom Corbett was AG while Jerry Sandusky was raping other people's children at Penn State but elected not to ruin his own ambitions of becoming governor.

Following his fall from grace in the S&L debacle of the 1980s, Neil Bush wants to reinvent himself in privatized education. Following the conclusion of their corruption from within inserting the 'Halliburton Loophole' into the 2005 Energy Act and their march into Iraq for oil, W and Dick want to continue to cash in on natural gas. The day after the midterm elections in 2010, Karl Rove delivered the key note address to the Developing Unconventional Gas conference convened in Pittsburgh. He assured the industry leaders convened they had nothing to worry about regarding regulation of their industry in PA.

The following April, Karl returned to Pittsburgh to debate Howard Dean in the Robert Morris Speaker's Series at Heinz Hall. Karl Rove sat gloating about the $75M he and American Crossroads had raised to "influence the 2010 elections and place GOP candidates in key states". Those key states? WI, MI, OH, PA, FL, all places where GOP governors are busy building the support structures for privatized education and natural gas exploration.

The Pittsburgh Opera has clearly been commandeered by the GOP and this award is nothing more than payback. Tom Corbett has been so dutiful. CORRUPTION AT ITS FINEST!

[Calvin Skinner]

10:49 AM on 05/10/2012

How can the Pittsburgh Opera bestow it's lifetime achievement award on the on the Governor whose priorities do not include educating our children or keeping college affordable? If the award was being granted for being the best friend of school privatizers and natural gas drillers I would understand.

[Pupahava]

10:02 AM on 05/10/2012

Governor Corbett has proposed 30% cuts to higher education, effectively leading the way in making Pennsylvania state universities and state affiliated universities (Pitt and Penn State) private; he has denied Pittsburgh Port Authority adequate funding for transit (proposed 35% cuts in service as a result), blackmailing it into destroying the transit union; he has denied public schools in Philly and Pittsburgh basic funding, all the while kicking back OUR money to his corporate friends. And the Opera wants to honor him?!?

I love opera, but I swear they won't see me again if this goes through! Rescind the award NOW!!! http://www.change.org/petitions/pittsburgh-opera-director-of-development-rescind-the-tom-and-susan-corbett-lifetime-achievement-award

[ktsegel]

09:49 AM on 05/10/2012

For those not from PA, adding to the tragedy is the fact that the slashing cuts didn't need to happen. PA is at the dead center of the Marcellus Shale boom, yet Gov. Corbett has steadfastly blocked ANY level of extraction tax on drillers, basic tax policy that all other states incl. very red states have put in place. Evidence suggests a direct promise he made in exchange for heavy campaign funding from oil and gas. He has also not closed a major corporate loophole that many other states have eliminated. So, while ignoring these basic revenue sources, he has attempted to eliminate state subsidies for higher education, and gotten 50% of the way there, on top of the $billion in cuts to K-12. No one in the state thinks that colleges and many K-12 systems don't need to better control costs, but Gov. Corbett seems to have no sense of how fragile many of these systems have become, and instead of a creative pressure approach is just slashing, under influence from ideologues and those w/a $ interest in privatizing public ed. It's a disaster, esp. for poor and working class kids trying to climb the education ladder. The Founders believed strong public education was the single most important institution to building a democratic republic. Our Gov, who many thought rationale earlier in his career, seems to have lost this essential American thread. Millions of PA families are feeling it, and realize it didn't have to happen.

[MegInPA]

01:11 PM on 05/10/2012

That is exactly true. He has stated time and time again that he needs to cut funding to education because the money just isn't there but anytime anyone brings up taxing the Marcellus Shale drilling he steadfastly refuses -- stating it's not open to negotiation and it's not going to happen. Democrats and Republicans alike agree that this should be taxed and he won't do it -- meanwhile, Pennsylvania is being polluted with this nasty drilling, our roads are being run down by all the trucks driving all over them -- and for what? This state is growing poorer because of it, not to mention the environmental toll it is taking. Worst. Governor. EVER!

[dawlishgal]

09:35 AM on 05/10/2012

At least one of the loathsome Koch brothers supports the opera in NYC, presumably with the money he makes by polluting our air and water...whatever he might have left after paying off so many politicians). To give an award to Corbett who has decimated our educaitonal system here in PA, while making us the only state that refuses to tax frackers is absurd. I have been reading the lists of big money donors that appear on the programs at every concert or opera, and I think i't damn decent of them to contribute to something that gives pleasure to so many. But the Corbetts...what the bleep is that. Who, exactly, is responsible for this decision? Of couse, people are going to be offended. I am already considering trying to get my money back for my season ticket for 2012-2013 and go to the ballet instead..

[jennstrobel]

02:48 PM on 05/10/2012

May other season ticket holders request refunds so that the Opera understands that its folly has real impact. Apparently the only thing that they understand is money - so it's the only way to reach them.

[MegInPA]

09:25 AM on 05/10/2012

When I first read that Tom Corbett was being honored for lifetime achievement in education and the arts, I thought it was a joke. I have NEVER seen the public education system ransacked so badly as it has been under this horrible horrible governor. My kids have suffered for it. Saying "Gov. Corbett will be honored for his early work as a teacher as well as his long-standing protection of the public interest as Pennsylvania attorney general," is ridiculous. Maybe next we should honor the BTK killer for service to God as he DID volunteer for years at his church. And why isn't anyone mentioning that as Attorney General, he was aware of the charges against Sandusky and not only did nothing but actually FUNDED Sandusky's charity knowing full well what was going on. There was enough money to funnel there but not to education. Ugh, I'm on a tangent now but I am so disgusted I can hardly see.

[Susan Juffe]

08:21 AM on 05/10/2012

Others have expressed my views elegantly and concisely. As a parent of a Pittsburgh Public School student and a teacher for Pittsburgh Public Schools I wanted to add my voice agreeing with the absurdity of this honor.

Susan Juffe

[klinzboy]

12:52 AM on 05/10/2012

Hopefully the Musicians' Union will strike in support of the teachers who are about to lose their jobs and in honor of the children that are about to lose their teachers and public school music programs.

[Joe The Nerd Ferraro]

10:34 PM on 05/09/2012

i hope the musicians show up with out of tune instruments.

[Joe The Nerd Ferraro]

10:32 PM on 05/09/2012

what kind of self-hating moron would work that room?
either from a wait staff perspective to a performer?

is it really worth that one night's wage to be in the room with such slime?

[dawlishgal]

09:37 AM on 05/10/2012

And who among us would go to that silly event at which the Corbetts are to be "honored." Will there be picketing? I certainly hope so.

[Jessie Ramey]

09:57 PM on 05/09/2012

Gov. Corbett has cut $1 BILLION from public education these past two years, devastating our schools and gutting arts education. The award is outrageous. We must have adequate, equitable, and sustainable state funding for public education. Our public schools are a public good. It's a matter of priorities and the people of Pennsylvania have made it quite clear that they want their legislators to look for revenue alternatives. We are looking to our representatives to seize this moment of operatic tragedy and find some heroes for this story!