In run for governor, Onorato says he’s the “outsider”

Onorato has made his Harrisburg outsider status a central theme of his campaign for governor.

Democrat Dan Onorato says he’s better positioned to bring reform to Harrisburg than Republican Tom Corbett, since he’d be moving into the governor’s mansion as an “outsider.” Corbett’s campaign manager calls that argument “disingenuous.”

Onorato has made his Harrisburg outsider status a central theme of his campaign for governor.

The Allegheny County Executive says he’s more likely than Corbett to pass laws instituting campaign finance reform, shrinking the size of legislative spending and reining in public pension costs, because he doesn’t have a stake in the Harrisburg status quo.

“It’s a lot easier for me to come in and make changes to that system,” says Onorato, “because I’m not entitled to it. That’s what I meant by being an outsider. I don’t have any financial interest in this system, currently the way it’s mapped out.”

Corbett’s campaign manager, Brian Nutt, says that’s a “disingenuous” argument from a career politician.

“Tom Corbett has done more to protect the taxpayer money,” says Nutt, “as well as protecting it from corruption, fraud or abuse, within his first four or five years here in Harrisburg, than Mr. Onorato has been doing in his almost 20-year career.”

Onorato says he doesn’t think the fact that his running mate Scott Conklin is a state representative will hurt his “Harrisburg outsider” campaign narrative.

In fact, Onorato says Conklin’s relationships with lawmakers would help an Onorato Administration pass reform bills through the General Assembly.