Pa. senator takes heat after blaming 'warm bodies' for climate change

HARRISBURG — Does Scott Wagner, the Republican state senator and gubernatorial candidate, really think that the warmth of human bodies and movement of the planet are behind climate change?

His campaign manager, Jason High, said Thursday that Wagner, a York County businessman, doesn't know what causes global warming — that was "kind of the point" of remarks Wagner gave to an interviewer this week that are now rippling in political circles.

"He's not running to be the top scientist in the state," High said. "He's running for governor."

"We have more people," he continued. "You know, humans have warm bodies. So is heat coming off?"

The comments have since sparked criticism and ridicule. In a story in the York Daily Record, a lecturer at the Hayden Planetarium in New York called Wagner's remarks "total, utter nonsense."

The Pennsylvania Democratic Party emailed out a list of headlines about the interview, such as this one from the Huffington Post: "Badly Misinformed Lawmaker Thinks Our 'Warm Bodies' May Be Causing Climate Change."

"Scott Wagner's inability to understand or accept basic science is reflective of too much time spent in Harrisburg rubbing elbows with special interests," state party executive director Sinceré Harris said in a statement.

Wagner's campaign manager said Thursday that the senator does believe people should be "responsible stewards of the environment." But the candidate "gets very concerned about over-regulation, things that impede development," High said.