There was a billboard at the site of what will be Point Park’s new Playhouse on Friday. It was big and it was bold and it said “Thank you Governor Tom Corbett!” 

Indeed, there’s a lot to thank the Governor for: An incredibly unregulated and untaxed fracking industry, almost $1 billion in cuts to public education funding and restrictions to a woman’s right to choose, among other accomplishments. 

For whatever reason, the Governor doesn’t want potential voters thinking about those issues. He’d rather we focus on the scuffle of last-minute support for education and the arts he’s tried to create as the gubernatorial election draws near.

Students have been vocal about finding it difficult to forget the cuts to education Corbett enacted in his first year of governorship. Though the governor protests that the cuts have been greatly exaggerated, FactCheck.org states that “As a percentage of public school funding, Pennsylvania’s state contribution ranks 45th… State funding going to pre-K-12 programs remains below the amount the state contributed six years ago in 2008-2009, and well below that achieved during the two years of stimulus contributions.” 

It’s what probably led to the $5 million state redevelopment assistance capital grant for Point Park, which will help the University pay for the new Downtown Playhouse. Gov. Corbett was on hand Friday to let everyone know that he cares about the arts and about education, despite his track record on that front.

Interestingly, the event wasn’t publicized, at least not to the Globe or USG. A few hints were dropped about something happening, but no one saw fit to let the school newspaper or the student government know the governor of our state was going to be in town. 

Ever since he cut state education funding, he has received a frosty reception from students and teachers across the state. Students in Millersville University’s 2013 graduating class refused to clap for Corbett when he gave the commencement address at their university. Some even turned their backs, according to Lancaster Online.

The Philadelphia City Paper reported that Corbett cancelled a planned visit to a Philadelphia high school in January.Widespread student and teacher protests preceded his decision to move his press conference. Corbett insisted his decision was unrelated to the student activity, blaming it instead on third-party outsiders “out to get him.” 

Maybe he didn’t want to give students the chance to organize a protest, and that’s why he had to sneak in unbeknownst to the student newspaper. It’s a funny image: The Governor so hounded by protests that he needs to sneak into universities in the dead of night.

Less funny are the ramifications of his policies. 

Followthemoney.org, a nonpartisan archive of contributions to campaigns, states that Corbett’s campaign has received around $961,000 in donations from the mining industry and around $1.4 million from the oil and gas industries. 

Coincidentally, he has paved the way for the fracking industry in Pennsylvania. According to Lehigh Valley Live’s website, “Even though Texas, Oklahoma and other gas-producing states were taking in billions in extraction taxes, Corbett and Co. insisted that impact fees — which direct much of the revenue to areas affected by fracking — were the only way to go.”

His blanket opposition to taxes has cheated the state out of enormous amounts of potential revenue, which could have been used to help offset the cuts he made to education. 

Don’t worry, his social stances are just as maddening.

Corbett has gone on record in support of a bill that would require a woman seeking an abortion to receive two copies of an ultrasound of her fetus. If it’s too early in the pregnancy to obtain an ultrasound the traditional, “jelly on the belly” way, women would be required to undergo an invasive transvaginal ultrasound. 

Don’t worry, though, ladies. The governor reassured critics that if a woman doesn’t want to see an ultrasound, “you just have to close your eyes,” according to the Huffington Post. 

Close your eyes to the invasive procedure and the state-mandated judgment of your decision. Sounds great. 

There’s a lot to thank Gov. Corbett for, it’s true. Policies that put the environmental integrity of the state second to the profits of private corporations. Restrictions and judgment around an intensely personal matter that affects women, not men in power. Cuts in education that have resulted in cut arts, athletics, and classes around the state.

And also a $5 million dollar grant during election season. We can’t lose sight of the important issues here.