State GOP staffs for Corbett

Timothy McNulty | November 9, 2009

Think the state's GOP infrastructure has a preferred candidate for governor? It's staffing the Corbett campaign, using money provided by the candidate from Shaler, Dan Hirshhorn at Pa2010 writes:

The state Republican Party has been handling administration of Tom Corbett's campaign payroll, helping him defray some costs of his gubernatorial bid in the clearest indication yet that the Attorney General is the party's preferred candidate, according to interviews and campaign finance data.

The party itself is not footing the bill for Corbett's primary campaign against Congressman Jim Gerlach (R-6). Rather, the Corbett campaign has given the party's state campaign committee tens of thousands of dollars dating back to earlier this year, which the party has then used to pay salary to Corbett's campaign staff. There is nothing particularly unusual about the process, sometimes called "funneling," which in this case allows Corbett's campaign to forgo the administrative costs of paying a staff.