Dems go negative early

Timothy McNulty | November 19, 2009

Don't miss the sniping between the camps for Democrats Tom Knox and Dan Onorato in Jim O'Toole's Harrisburg reform story today:

But the campaign of his party rival, Mr. Knox, was quick to question Mr. Onorato's reform credentials.

"Records matter," said Josh Morrow, the Knox campaign manager. "Dan Onorato has had many years to end pay-to-play in Allegheny County. But instead he has taken hundreds of thousands in campaign cash and rewarded these same donors with millions of dollars in county business. I believe Pennsylvanians will view his plan with a healthy dose of skepticism."

Mr. Morrow said that Mr. Onorato, while county controller in 2001, was among several members of the county Retirement Board, who received campaign contributions from some of the same firms awarded contracts to manage the county's pension assets.

In response, Dan Fee, Mr. Onorato's spokesman, said, "We are fully prepared to have a debate about reform with a candidate who was fined for campaign finance violations just two months ago. Dan has a record of reform and Tom Knox has a record of disobeying the law."

He referred to a $5,500 fine levied by Philadelphia elections officials over a deceptive ad aired by Mr. Knox's unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic nomination for mayor two years ago. The ad, attacking the eventual winner, Michael Nutter, did not disclose that it was actually paid for by the businessman's campaign.

Speaking to reporters last week, Mr. Knox said he hadn't known about the ad before it was aired and called it a mistake by his campaign.

What are they talking about? Here's a 2001 P-G story by Jeff Cohan on contributions to county retirement board members Onorato, Jim Roddey, George Matta and John Weinstein. And here's the background on Knox getting fined by Philly's ethics board in September.