The Republican pair want to become the state’s next top-two elected officials.

BILL O ’ BOYLE boboyle@timesleader.com

WILKES-BARRE – Bucks County Commissioner Jim Cawley and state Attorney General Tom Corbett are running as a team to become the state’s next top-two elected officials

Cawley, one of nine candidates running for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor, has been endorsed by the state Republican Committee along with gubernatorial candidate Corbett.

Cawley, 40, of Middleton Township, was in Wilkes-Barre on Thursday and said he has been and still is the only GOP candidate to have publicly endorsed Corbett – the current state attorney general – for governor.

“When I looked around at all the candidates and state elected leaders, Tom Corbett was the one that I could say really got it,” Cawley said. “He knows how to get Pennsylvania back on track, and I want to help him accomplish that.”

Cawley will face Steve Johnson, Jean Craige Pepper, Russ Diamond, Chet Beiler, Billy McCue, John Kennedy, Luzerne County Commissioner Stephen A. Urban (who is also running for the state Senate) and Daryl Metcalfe on the May 18 primary ballot, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State.

The winner will team with either Corbett, who once taught in the Pine Grove Area School District, or former Berks County state Rep. Sam Rohrer to take on the Democratic nominees.

“Jim Cawley is a dedicated public servant, a devoted family man and a proven fiscal watchdog,” Corbett said in a statement provided by Vince Galko of Cawley’s campaign. “He will be a terrific lieutenant governor. I am glad to have Jim as part of the endorsed Republican ticket.”

Cawley said the 2009 state budget impasse should never happen again. He said counties are dependent on state funding, and because of the delay in passing a state budget, many vital services were either suspended or eliminated, putting many people at risk.

“Services like domestic relations, child foster care, drug-and-alcohol services and mental health services were affected,” Cawley said. “The system is broken and we need to fix it.”

Cawley said he and Corbett are on “parallel tracks” and the seminal moment for their campaign came when the state GOP endorsed both of them.

“The simple truth is that the voters will still decide who they want to run for lieutenant governor,” Cawley said. “Getting the endorsement of the state party doesn’t preclude anyone from pressing any of the other eight buttons for the other candidates.”