By Tom Infield, Thomas Fitzgerald & Joelle Farrell
February 2, 2010
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With the filing of campaign-finance reports by all gubernatorial candidates yesterday, Dan Onorato strongly fortified the widespread perception that he is the front-runner in the four-way Democratic primary for the office.
The Allegheny County executive reported having nearly 10 times as much in his year-end campaign account - $6.2 million - as his nearest rival, state Auditor General Jack Wagner.
The $676,000 that Wagner reported in cash on hand confirmed impressions in Pennsylvania political circles that he was lagging in fund-raising behind Onorato, a fellow Pittsburgher.
Yesterday marked the deadline for state and federal candidates to file reports on their financial pictures as of Dec. 31.
In the Pennsylvania battle for the U.S. Senate, the candidates got the jump on the deadline by releasing reports over the weekend.
Republican Pat Toomey, a former three-term congressman from Allentown, outraised Sen. Arlen Specter (D., Pa.) in the final three months of 2009 by more than a half-million dollars. Specter, though, still had three times as much cash on hand, $8.66 million.
To face Toomey, Specter will have to turn back a Democratic primary challenge from U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak. Sestak's fund-raising pace slowed during the fourth quarter, but he had $5.1 million on hand.
Congressional candidates are barred from receiving more than $2,300 in a primary from any individual. There are no limits on individual contributions in state races.
The Republican gubernatorial primary has been regarded as less competitive from the start. State Attorney General Tom Corbett reported holding $3.2 million. That dwarfed the $28,000 held by his foe, State Rep. Sam Rohrer.
Three of the four Democratic candidates had given hints in recent weeks of what they would report to Pennsylvania's Department of State. Only Wagner played his cards close to the vest.
His new report revealed that he raised $171,000 in the closing weeks of the year. He was reelected auditor general in 2008.
Onorato was eager weeks ago to tout his war chest and perhaps give second thoughts to some of his foes about staying in the contest against him.
He reported putting $6.4 million into his account last year. That included the $3.7 million he said he raised during the year. It also included funds he had transferred from the account he used in running for reelection as county executive in 2007.
Brian Herman, Onorato's campaign spokesman, said that, in the last three years, Onorato had raised $8.1 million that ultimately was applied to his gubernatorial campaign.
Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel and Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty, both Democrats, also had released a hint of their cash totals weeks ahead of the reporting deadline.
In his report yesterday, Hoeffel said he had raised $347,000 and had $229,000 in the bank.
Doherty, who won reelection as mayor in November, bragged previously of his fund-raising prowess, saying he had raised $675,000 for the Scranton election.
But he reported raising only $444,000 for governor and said he had only $94,500 in the bank 31/2 months before the May 18 primary.
Democratic state politics has been abuzz in recent days with talk that Doherty might opt not to run for governor but go after the job of lieutenant governor instead, perhaps forming a partnership with Onorato.
That talk was further fueled by news that Doherty's campaign manager had left to take a political job in Missouri.
But both campaigns deny any such move.
U.S. Senate. In the Senate race, Specter reported raising $1.15 million in the last three months of 2009 but spent about $1.2 million, including $602,492 in refunded contributions, according to Federal Election Commission reports. Specter, who switched to the Democratic Party in April, said he would give disgruntled GOP donors their money back; the conservative Club for Growth, which Toomey used to head, sent thousands of letters to those donors urging them to ask for refunds.
Toomey raised $1.67 million in the fourth quarter, bringing his total to $4.9 million. He ended the year with $2.8 million in the bank after expenditures to get his campaign up and running.
Sestak's fund-raising fell to just under $649,000 for the fourth quarter, with party insiders backing Specter and liberal Internet activists, who had been a source of support, angry about the former admiral's support for an escalation of the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan.
Still, the challenger spent very little - about $233,000 - in the fourth quarter; he still does not have a campaign manager or the network of field offices that a statewide campaign usually has, though Sestak said he would ramp up the campaign this week.
U.S. House. In the Seventh Congressional District, which is largely in Delaware County, Republican Patrick Meehan slightly outpaced his closest Democratic challenger, Bryan Lentz, according to financial reports for the last three months of 2009.
Meehan, a former U.S. attorney from Drexel Hill, raised nearly $580,000 and finished the year with almost $694,000 on hand. Meehan has spent just over $93,000.
Lentz, a state representative from Swarthmore, raised about $295,000, finishing the year with about $460,000 on hand. Lentz has spent about $55,000.
In the Sixth Congressional District, covering a large part of Chester County, Republican Steve Welch finished the year with $653,000 on hand. A biotechnology entrepreneur from Charlestown Township, he lent his campaign $500,000 earlier in the year and $150,000 in the final quarter.
Incumbent Republican Jim Gerlach, who reentered the race a few weeks ago after abandoning his bid for governor, reported about $5,300 cash on hand. But his campaign said last week it had $525,000 in fund-raising "commitments."
On the Democratic side, Doug Pike raised more than $456,000 in donations in the final months of the year, ending 2009 with more than $1.1 million cash on hand. Pike gave $962,000 to his campaign in 2009, $340,000 in the last three months. Pike, a former member of the Inquirer Editorial Board, lives in Tredyffrin Township. Democrat Manan Trivedi, a Reading doctor, reported raising nearly $103,000 in the final quarter of the year, finishing with over $123,000 cash.
In Bucks County's Eighth District, U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy raised about $321,000 in the last three months, ending the year with almost $848,000.
Republican Michael Fitzpatrick, a former congressman whom Murphy beat in 2006, announced late last month that he would run again. He reported no campaign-finance information for 2009.
But yesterday, Fitzpatrick asked Murphy whether he would agree to cap spending at $1 million per campaign. The last time the two competed in 2006, the campaign's total cost $10.8 million.
Kate Hansen, a spokeswoman for Murphy, called Fitzpatrick's challenge a "gimmick."
