Jan 6, 2009 6:43 pm US/Eastern
Onorato Raises $4M For Campaign Kitty
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
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Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato isn't ready to announce a run for the governor's office yet.
KDKA
The most likely Democratic candidate for governor of Pennsylvania next year in 2010 is still playing coy -- even after he confirmed that he has raised over $4 million for his campaign kitty.
"Obviously, people ask me if that money is for a future race, but I haven't made any decisions but that money could be used for other races, too," Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato told KDKA Political Editor Jon Delano today.
The most likely race for that money -- running for Gov. Ed Rendell's job next year.
"The timeline is very short right now, and if I decide to do that, I'll be making an announcement in the near future."
For the first time, Onorato now says he'll make a decision by June of this year -- and he expects others to decide this year as well.
Besides Onorato, potential Democratic candidates include state Auditor General Jack Wagner, PA Senate Democratic leader Bob Mellow of Scranton, Lehigh County executive Don Cunningham, Philadelphia businessman Tom Knox, and former PA State Revenue Secretary Tom Wolf.
But -- so far -- Onorato has out fund-raised them all -- leaving him open to the obvious question.
"Can you guarantee that nobody who gives you money gets any special treatment with respect to county contracts or if you became governor, state contracts?"
"Absolutely. I make it very clear. I separate my campaigning from governing. I put a Chinese wall -- you have to," Onorato insists.
And while Onorato won't confirm that he's running for governor, he sure has his campaign pitch down.
"We have 600 less people on the payroll, I've cut property taxes twice, I stopped annual reassessments, I cut row offices from 10 to four, I cut 911 centers from five to one. There isn't an elected official who has that same track record over five years. That's tough fiscal management. It's why I was unopposed for reelection."
"Sounds like a platform to run for governor," said Delano.
"Sounds like good governing," retorts Onorato.
Now the details of Onorato's fundraising -- who gave how much and when -- won't be public until the end of January.
But the dollar amount will give some potential opponents pause -- and that's exactly what the Onorato campaign hopes.
While the Democrats battle this out, the Republicans may be the odds-on favorite in 2010.
For more than 50 years, the governor's job has flipped parties every eight years -- and next year it's the Republicans' turn.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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