By Alex Roarty
PoliticsPA Staff Writer
roarty@politicspa.com

HARRISBURG — It’s the biggest open secret in Pennsylvania politics. Despite public pledges of neutraility, Ed Rendell, and the array of political insider, operatives and fundraisers that helped make him successful, have chosen to support Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato as the governor’s successor.

On Wednesday, Onorato’s Democratic gubernatorial rival, Jack Wagner, decided to stop publicly pretending he wasn’t up against the incumbent’s machine. His remarks came during an afternoon press conference outside the Capitol, just hours after Governor Rendell reportedly had criticized the auditor general and a few other candidates.

“Clearly, I understand what’s going on in this campaign,” Wagner said, when asked if he thought the governor had broken his vow to remain neutral in the primary. “And I have said right from the start, I have seen the contributors who have traditionally given to Ed Rendell giving to another candidate in this race. So you can’t fool me on that one. You can’t fool the other candidates on that one. You can’t fool the public on that one.

“It’s pretty darn obvious who the governor is supporting in this election,” said the auditor general, who added that he’s OK with the fact the governor has chosen a candidate.

The governor at an afternoon press conference chastised Wagner and Republican Attorney General Tom Corbett, also running for Pennsylvania’s top job, for submitting budget requests for the next fiscal year higher than their current funding. Their requests were hypocritical, he said, in light of the fact they’ve spent their time on the campaign trail emphasizing the need for state government to reduce spending.

It’s not the first time Rendell has taken a shot against his fellow Democrat, whose audits of his administration have been a constant source of irritation. Wagner’s office has reported hundreds of millions of dollars of waste and inefficiency exist in a variety of departments, such as Public Welfare, audits Rendell has said are flawed.

But Wagner said the governor’s criticism of his budget is wrong. He was forced to submit a request for higher funding next fiscal year because contract negotiations out of his hands forced higher costs upon his department, he said, adding that he has reduced his office’s budget by 3 percent since taking office 6 years ago.

If the state had followed the auditor general’s example in recent years, it would be in much better shape, the candidate said.

“Get your facts straight, governor,” Wagner said. “Because that’s one thing the department of auditor general operates on: facts.”

Squaring off during a primary against a governor still very popular in his own party would seem a strange strategy, but Wagner has consistently portrayed himself as a candidate with a different philosophy than Rendell, particularly regarding fiscal policy. His campaign motto, in fact, has been putting state government, run by the governor the last 7 years, “back on the tracks.”

“Governor Rendell has lost weight in recent months, and he looks great,” Wagner said Wednesday, referencing the nearly 100 pounds Rendell has shed in the last year. “What I want to do is put the state budget on a diet.”

Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel and state Senator Anthony Williams are also running in the primary. Polls show Onorato with a 22- to 27-point advantage over the rest of the field.

Tags: Dan Onorato, Dan Onroato for governor, Jack Wagner, Jack Wagner for governor

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 12th, 2010 at 4:26 pm and is filed under Front Page Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.