Jake Corman

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Jake Corman
Jake Corman.jpg
President pro tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate
Assumed office
November 12, 2020
Preceded byJoe Scarnati
Majority Leader of the Pennsylvania Senate
In office
January 6, 2015 – November 12, 2020
Preceded byDominic Pileggi
Succeeded byKim Ward
Member of the Pennsylvania Senate
from the 34th district
Assumed office
January 7, 1999
Preceded byDoyle Corman
Personal details
Born
Jacob Doyle Corman III

(1964-09-09) September 9, 1964 (age 57)
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Kelli Lopsonzski
Children3
EducationPennsylvania College of Technology
Pennsylvania State University, University Park (BA)
WebsiteOfficial website

Jacob Doyle Corman III (born September 9, 1964) is an American Republican Party politician serving as President pro tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate since 2020. He served as Majority Leader of the Pennsylvania State Senate from 2015 to 2020. He has represented the 34th Senatorial District since 1999 when his father retired from the same seat. The district includes all of Centre, Mifflin and Juniata Counties and portions of Huntingdon County, and includes State College.

In the lead-up to the 2020 elections, Corman and other Republicans in the state legislature refused to implement changes that would allow Pennsylvania officials to process mail-in ballots before election day. As a result of the inaction, counting of ballots in Philadelphia took several days, leaving it unclear for days who had won the 2020 presidential election. After Joe Biden won the 2020 election and Donald Trump refused to concede while making false claims of fraud, Corman called for an audit of the election in Pennsylvania and called on Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar to resign.

Personal[]

Corman was State Director for Central Pennsylvania for United States Senator Rick Santorum from 1994 through 1998.[1] He was Field Service Director for the from 1993 through 1994.[1][better source needed]

Career[]

In 1998, Corman's father, Doyle Corman, a Pennsylvania State Senator for 21 years, announced his retirement from the Senate. Corman announced that he would run for his father's seat. During the three-way GOP primary, Corman was attacked by the other candidates for a 1995 drunk driving conviction, as well as his admission to experimenting with marijuana in the 1980s.[2]

In 2002, Corman was re-elected with over 92% of the vote, facing only minimal opposition from a Libertarian Party candidate.[3] In 2006, Corman defeated Democrat Jon Eich, Robert J. Cash, and Libertarian Thomas Martin with 56% of the vote.[4] After the leadership shakeup following the 2006 elections, Corman bid for the position of Senate Majority Leader, but was edged out by Dominic Pileggi[5] and was ultimately elected as the Majority Policy Chairman, succeeding Joe Scarnati.[citation needed] After the 2008 election, Corman became Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.[citation needed]

The Pennsylvania Report named him to the 2009 "The Pennsylvania Report 100" list of influential figures in Pennsylvania politics and called him of the state's "rising stars."[6]

In 2010, Corman again defeated Democrat Jon Eich for re-election garnering 69.4% of the vote.[7] In 2014 and 2016, Corman was unopposed for re-election.[8] In 2018, he again won re-election after defeating Democrat Ezra Nanes by more than 10,500 votes.[9] After the 2014 election, Corman became Senate Majority Leader.[10]

2020 elections[]

Prior to the 2020 election, Corman and other Republicans in the state legislature refused to implement changes that would allow Pennsylvania officials to process mail-in ballots before election day. As a result, counting of ballots in Philadelphia took several days, leaving it unclear for days who had won the 2020 presidential election.[11] On the night of the election, Corman called for the resignation of Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar for allowing county boards to give voters an opportunity to "cure" their ballots if they were rejected.[12]

In January 2021, Corman and other Republicans in the Pennsylvania Senate refused to seat a Democratic senator who won a close election when his opponent refused to concede. The Democratic senator's election victory had been certified by state officials. Corman then led the removal of Lt. Governor Fetterman as President of the Pennsylvania Senate, using the GOP majority to install himself as President pro tempore.[13]

Even though there were no indications of fraud in the 2020 election, Corman called for a "full forensic investigation" into the election.[14]

Political positions[]

In 2017, Corman sponsored Senate Bill 1, a pension reform legislation that was enacted.[15]

Corman, as well as former Pennsylvania Treasurer Rob McCord, sued the NCAA, seeking to reverse sanctions that the athletic association imposed against Penn State after the Penn State child sex abuse scandal.[16] In a settlement, the NCAA lifted the sanctions against the university. The lawsuit initially aimed to require Penn State's $60 million fine to be spent on child abuse prevention in Pennsylvania, rather than across the U.S., but the suit later morphed to challenge the legality of the sanctions themselves.[16][17] Corman accused the NCAA of unfairly singling out Penn State[16][17] and said that the sanctions were "extremely damaging to my community";[17] the NCAA responded that Corman was seeking to politicize the NCAA's safety efforts.[16]

While Corman voted for Pennsylvania's medical cannabis program, he is against both the decriminalization and legalization of cannabis in Pennsylvania. He believes cannabis is a gateway drug.[18][19] He stated that: "I will do everything in my power to prevent legalization of recreational marijuana."[20]

In 2018, Corman that a bill Timothy J. Piazza Anti-Hazing Law (Senate Bill 1090), which was signed into law later that year as Act 80. The anti-hazing law, which passed the state Senate unanimously, strengthened anti-hazing laws.[21]

As part of the 2018–19 budget process, Corman identified school safety funding as a priority.[22]

In June 2019, Corman made national headlines for aggressively yelling over Democratic State Senator Katie Muth, as she read into record a letter from formerly homeless resident John Boyd, who encouraged representatives to not take away monthly General Assistance funds from him and other vulnerable citizens.[23]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "Project Vote Smart - Senator Jacob Doyle 'Jake' Corman, III (PA)". Project Vote Smart.
  2. ^ John Stabinger (1998-06-12). "Corman, Conklin left standing for 34th State Senatorial District race" (PDF). The Daily Collegian. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  3. ^ Pennsylvania Department of State, Election Returns, 11/5/2002 Archived 2008-05-15 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Pennsylvania Department of State, Election Returns, 11/7/2006 Archived 2008-05-29 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Neri, Al (November 2006). "One last thing". The Insider. Archived from the original on 2007-10-13. Retrieved 2008-06-08.
  6. ^ "PA Report 100" (PDF). Pennsylvania Report. Capital Growth, Inc. January 23, 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 14, 2009.
  7. ^ Pennsylvania Department of State, Election Returns, 11/2/2010
  8. ^ Pennsylvania Department of State, Election Returns, 11/4/2014
  9. ^ Rushton, Geoff (November 7, 2018). "Corman Re-elected to State Senate". StateCollege.com. Retrieved February 16, 2020.
  10. ^ "Corman, Scarnati to lead Pa. Senate Republicans". PennLive.com. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  11. ^ Fernandez, Cynthia (2020). "The months-long political saga that guaranteed a long vote count in Pennsylvania". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  12. ^ News, CBS 21 (2020-11-04). "PA State Senators call for Boockvar resignation". WHP. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
  13. ^ Fernandez, Angela Couloumbis of Spotlight PA, Cynthia. "GOP senators remove Lt. Gov. Fetterman from running first day of new session". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  14. ^ LEVY, MARC. "Will an election 'audit' happen in Pennsylvania?". mcall.com. Retrieved 2021-08-29.
  15. ^ Mennis, Greg (December 14, 2017). "Pennsylvania's Historic Pension Reforms". The Pew Charitable Trusts. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
  16. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Marc Levy, Lawmaker: NCAA should fire chief over Penn State sanctions, Associated Press (February 11, 2015).
  17. ^ Jump up to: a b c Jan Murphy, Sen. Jake Corman declares victory over NCAA with repeal of its sanctions on Penn State, PennLive (January 16, 2020).
  18. ^ Levy, Marc (January 24, 2019). "Pennsylvania wants to hear from you on legalizing marijuana". The Morning Call. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
  19. ^ Orso, Anna (March 25, 2015). "State GOP chief Jake Corman on a higher minimum wage, medical marijuana and why he loves Uber (Q&A)". Billy Penn. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
  20. ^ Cole, John (December 21, 2018). "PA Senate Majority Leader Says He Will Do "Everything" In His Power To Prevent Legalized Recreational Use of Marijuana". Politics PA. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  21. ^ Mark Scolforo (October 15, 2018). "Anti-hazing law named for Penn State student heads to governor". Associated Press.
  22. ^ McGoldrick, Gillian (June 22, 2018). "Pa. approves $60 million for school safety". philly.com. Harrisburg. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
  23. ^ Gstalter, Morgan (June 28, 2019). "GOP Pennsylvania lawmaker yells over Dem reading letter from former homeless man in viral video". The Hill. Retrieved 2019-06-28.

External links[]

Pennsylvania State Senate
Preceded by
Doyle Corman 		Member of the Pennsylvania Senate
from the 34th district
1999–present 		Incumbent
Preceded by
Dominic Pileggi 		Majority Leader of the Pennsylvania Senate
2015–2020 		Succeeded by
Kim Ward
Preceded by
Joe Scarnati 		President pro tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate
2020–present 		Incumbent
Retrieved from ""