One-on-one with Governor Tom Wolf
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Though it is August, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf is not focused on summer pleasures.
Instead he stopped into a Center of Excellence in Norristown, one of 20 new treatment centers across the state, aimed at helping families fight opioid abuse.
Governor Wolf tells us, "You know, 2,500 Pennsylvanians died in 2014 of drug overdoses. That's more than died of traffic accidents that year. And last year, 2015, 3,300 people in Pennsylvania died of drug overdoses."
Speaking of the budget, a lot of people have called it a bit of a loss for Wolf, who didn't get either a raise in personal or state income tax or a tax on fracking.
He says the gas tax stings a little, and he may fight that again. But on the larger point, he disagrees.
"I feel great. And I think my view is what we got is something that was great for Pennsylvania," Wolf said. "And by the way I was not personally committed to either one of those revenue streams. I was committed to a balanced budget. And I was indifferent in how we got there."
Wolf argues he not only got a better bottom line, he also got increased funds for priorities like education and Medicaid.
As well, he says Pennsylvania will soon have a quality of life win, able to grab beer and wine at places like grocery stores.
In fact, you can enjoy one major alcohol change right now.
"One of the things I heard on the campaign trail is people were tired of taking a trip to California and people say you can't ship wine from the winery to your house, well, now you can," Wolf said.
Wolf says he's hopeful for more cross party cooperation in the fall in Harrisburg.
But his tone turned harsher talking about Donald Trump and his recent comments, which some saw as advocating gun violence against Hillary Clinton
Wolf says, "I don't care whether he was joking or not, you don't say that. That's just absolutely unacceptable for anybody to say that, let alone somebody running for the highest office in the land."
Watch the full interview in the video player below.
