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Onorato sees a flip-flop in Corbett’s tax pledge

Democrat Dan Onorato on Wednesday aggressively called into question his GOP rival’s pledge not to raise taxes as governor, pointing out contradictory statements given by Tom Corbett’s campaign about the specifics of the pledge.

During a conference call with reporters, Onorato noted that Corbett’s campaign told Capitolwire (subscription only) this week that raising certain fees would not violate the pledge he and many other GOP candidates have signed from the group Americans for Tax Reform. But during a KDKA interview in March, Corbett specifically said such fee increases are covered by his no-tax pledge.

“Yesterday, Tom feels some heat from the media and now the pledge includes fees, while in March it didn’t,” Onorato said. “Every time he feels a little pressure he changes his point of view. I have no idea what he stands for, no idea what the pledge means.”

Onorato’s latest comments came a day after his campaign hit Corbett for a vote he made to increase local property taxes 22 years ago. Democrats have looked for every opportunity to call Corbett a flip-flopper, but the tax issue is particularly potent. Corbett signed the no-tax pledge earlier this year, just a month after he told a meeting of mid-state Republicans that he couldn’t “rule out” increasing taxes. Even some Republicans, including the state Senate Minority Leader, have expressed doubts that Corbett can uphold the pledge considering the state’s troubled budget situation. The Onorato campaign also released yet another Web video on the subject, embedded at bottom.

The so-called Taxpayer Protection Pledge itself does not explicitly mention fees, only taxes.

Corbett campaign spokesman Kevin Harley waved off Onorato’s latest attack.

“There are three things Dan is an expert on, and that is unemployment, raising taxes and flip-flopping,” Harley told pa2010.com. “The no-new-tax pledge Tom signed does not include fees and it did not from the beginning. During Mr. Onorato’s entire career he’s done nothing but raise taxes on the hardworking people of Allegheny County. … They are misconstruing the interview to distract from the fact that Onorato is going to raise taxes.”

August 25, 2010 at 2:18 pm

--John Manganaro

Tags: Dan Onorato, Tom Corbett

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