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Corbett singles out Schwartz in email

Gov. Corbett's campaign attacked Democrat Allyson Schwartz by name in an email Friday on energy issues.

Gov. Corbett's campaign singled out Democrat Allyson Schwartz in an email blasted to supporters Friday on the occasion of the Obama administrations rollout of carbon-emissions regulations that Republicans call a "war on coal" because they likely will limit coal-fired power plants.

Per the email, the Corbett strategists seem to regard Schwartz, a U.S. House member from Montgomery County, as their chief opposition at this point – and/or they think she will scare the GOP base more than other Democrats running.

"Our leading opponent, liberal Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz, a close ally of President Obama, recently proposed a massive tax increase on natural gas," the email says. "And earlier this week, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party followed through on their threats to eliminate jobs by introducing legislation to shut down natural gas.

Will you stand with Governor Tom Corbett and sign our petition to stand up for Pennsylvania's energy jobs?"

Schwartz has proposed a 5 percent extraction tax on natural gas drilling, with the money it generates to be used for funding education and transportation. Corbett has held the line against any volume tax on gas, saying it would drive the industry away.

"Governor Corbett's campaign is confirming what many across Pennsylvania already know---that Allyson Schwartz is the strongest Democrat to beat Tom Corbett next fall," said Mark Bergman, spokesman for the Schwartz campaign.

"After making record cuts to education, allowing transportation infrastructure to crumble and letting Pennsylvania fall to 49th in job growth, Governor Corbett can't run on his failed record so he has to continue to mislead voters about Allyson's commonsense plan to make sure that Pennsylvanians can profit off our shale resources," Bergman said.

In addition, a Democratic state senator from The Pittsburgh area introduced legislation this week that would impose a moratorium on hydraulic fracking, the practice of using pressurized water and chemicals to blast natural gas out of shale formations.