Rendell harsh on Wagner, softer on Knox

In a recent radio interview, Gov. Ed Rendell confirmed what everyone already knows: He doesn’t like Jack Wagner.

The state Auditor General and fellow Democrat has been raising Rendell’s hackles by, among other things, pRendell probably wanted to be more explicit, but he was talking on emWHYY/em‘s emRadio Times/em and held his tounge, going on to defend the contract with Deloitte Consulting as one that had saved the state millions of dollars. But he made sure to note what he thinks is really on Wagner’s mind./p
p“And by the way, what’s the the auditor general doing these days?” Rendell asked host Marty Moss-Coane./p
p“I don’t know,” she replied./p
p“He’s running for governor. … Interesting.”/p
pDuring the wide-ranging interview late last week, Rendell had nicer things to say about Philadelphia businessman Tom Knox, who served under him as deputy mayor in Philadelphia and is also seeking the party’s nomination for governor./p
p“He did a great job as deputy mayor and he did a great job in cutting costs,” Rendell said. “Tom is a businessman and he understands business./p
p“Query whether he could work with the legislature,” Rendell added, before cutting himself off and acknowledging that he hasn’t done such a good job of that himself./p
p“I think Tom brings a lot of assets to the job.”/p
pRendell has a href="http://politickernv.com/pennsylvania/21473/rendell-looks-stay-neutral-democratic-primary-replace-him" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://politickernv.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fpolitickernv.com%2Fpennsylvania%2F21473%2Frendell-looks-stay-neutral-democratic-primary-replace-him','vowed+to+stay+neutral')" target="_blank"vowed to stay neutral/a in next year’s primary, but he is increasingly perceived as backing Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, if only implicitly. Many of his high-profile donors have been lining up behind Onorato./p
pa href="http://www.whyy.org/podcast/102309_100630.mp3" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.whyy.org']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.whyy.org%2Fpodcast%2F102309_100630.mp3','Click+here+to+listen+to+the+full+interview.')" target="_blank">Click here to listen to the full interview.

October 26, 2009 at 1:01 pm | Comments (6)

Onorato leads Dems in poll, but plurality undecided

Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato continues to lead a wide-open Democratic primary for governor, with more than a third of voters still undecided, according to a new poll.

full story

October 16, 2009 at 3:56 pm | Comments (2)

Poll shows Corbett leading guv race, but Wagner close

State Attorney General Tom Corbett would top any of his potential Democratic rivals in a general election for governor next year, but state Auditor General Jack Wagner is running just a hair behind him, according to a new poll.

The poll, conducted by Dane & Associates on behalf of the Web site GrassrootsPA, surveyed just over 200 people. The unusually small sample size, coupled with the lack of specifics released, make the poll difficult to…

October 9, 2009 at 12:00 pm | Comments (6)

Onorato: ‘I want to change the status quo’

PHILADELPHIA—Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato on Tuesday formally declared his candidacy for governor, making official what had been considered certain for months and pledging to change the entrenched culture of Harrisburg.

“There will be those who say Harrisburg can’t be fixed,” Onorato, a Democrat, said during a speech at City Hall here. “That the culture is the culture, the status quo is the status quo. But let me be clear: Not only will I take…

October 6, 2009 at 11:19 am | Comments (2)

Poll: Onorato narrowly edges Hoeffel, Wagner in wide open primary

Next year’s Democratic primary for governor remains a crowded free-for-all, with Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato holding a small lead over his most well-known opponents, according to a new poll.

The Quinnipiac University survey released Wednesday showed Onorato garnering 14 percent of the primary vote among registered Democrats, compared to 12 percent for Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel and 11 percent for state Auditor General Jack Wagner. Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty was backed by 8…

September 30, 2009 at 9:07 am | Comments (1)

EXCLUSIVE: Hoeffel will run for governor

Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel has decided to seek the Democratic nomination for governor, jumping into an increasingly crowded primary field as he seeks to portray himself as a progressive standard-bearer for the party.

Hoeffel, fueled by a concern that the party may be tacking right, made his decision after full story

September 20, 2009 at 12:00 pm | Comments (19)

Knox to pay fines over ads in 2007 mayoral race

Gubernatorial hopeful Tom Knox is paying a fine over radio ads from his 2007 Philadelphia mayoral campaign that violated city campaign finance laws, The Inquirer reports.

In advertisements attacking then-candidate Michael Nutter, the Knox campaign sought to paint him as an enemy to community churches. But the ads purported to have been paid by an organization that didn’t exist, an investigation by the city’s Board of Ethics revealed they were produced and bankrolled by the…

September 17, 2009 at 10:25 am | Comments (2)

EXCLUSIVE: Doherty gubernatorial run seems a sure shot (Updated)

With a political team in place and fundraising outreach well underway, Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty is now all-but-certain to run for governor, pa2010.com has learned.

Doherty, a Democrat who is expected to cruise to a third term as mayor this fall after

September 17, 2009 at 10:15 am | Comments (28)

Hoeffel wins a straw poll

In a gubernatorial primary that some Democrats say is short on true progressives, Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel might be the darling of that crowd.

That’s if you believe an admittedly “very unscientific” straw poll released by Keystone Progress Tuesday.

In the survey of over 1,000 progressive activists, Hoeffel, the former Congressman who is considering a run, won about 35 percent of the vote. State Auditor General Jack Wagner was in second with about 22…

September 15, 2009 at 1:23 pm | Comments (22)

Not so indirectly, Knox responds to Hoeffel’s ‘progressive’ criticism

It was interesting to read Democrat Tom Knox’s op-ed on pa2010.com Tuesday. In the p“I believe Pennsylvania voters are less concerned with which candidate claims to be the most ‘progressive,’ and more concerned about which candidate is most focused on progress—in solving the challenges and problems in their lives,” Knox wrote./p
pKnox’s sentiment was clearly a response to what Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel told us a couple months ago. When empa2010.com/em reported that he was a href="http://www.pa2010.com/hoeffel-considering-gubernatorial-bid/" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pa2010.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pa2010.com%2Fhoeffel-considering-gubernatorial-bid%2F','considering+getting+into+the+race+himself')" target="_blank"considering getting into the race himself/a, Hoeffel voiced concern that there were no genuine progressives in the Democratic field. He has since then taken some tentative but concrete steps toward launching a campaign, including a href="http://www.pa2010.com/exclusive-hoeffel-will-poll-the-gubernatorial-race/" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pa2010.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pa2010.com%2Fexclusive-hoeffel-will-poll-the-gubernatorial-race%2F','polling+the+race')" target="_blank">polling the race and

September 8, 2009 at 4:58 pm | Comments (3)