News Stories

January 11, 2008
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Two from area seek nod for treasurer
Democrats will vote on endorsement tomorrow.
By Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Staff Writer

The race for the Democratic nomination for state treasurer is heating up as two Philadelphia-area candidates prepare to lobby for the endorsement of the party's state committee this weekend.

Rob McCord, a Montgomery County venture capitalist, has begun circulating results of a poll showing that his background in the financial world would give him an electoral advantage over Bucks County Democratic chairman John Cordisco, a trial lawyer and former state legislator.

At least two other Democrats are considering entering the April 22 primary.

McCord's campaign also says it will file state financial reports this month showing he raised $3.1 million last year, though at least $1 million of it is a loan from his personal fortune.

Cordisco argues that McCord would be beholden to campaign contributors from the financial industry, and that an early poll comparing two people who are little known statewide is meaningless.

The poll pointedly asked how respondents felt about legislators who raised their own salaries.

When Cordisco was in the state House in 1983, he voted to raise lawmakers' salaries from $25,000 to $35,000. "The polling shows that John Cordisco is effectively unelectable," said Mark Nevins, a spokesman for McCord's campaign. "In this environment, if you vote to raise your own pay, you pay."

Cordisco chuckled and said, in effect, bring it on. He said he was on track to raise $1.3 million by the end of the month.

"I think he's got a nerve," Cordisco said of McCord. "Where is his money coming from? People who have a vested interest in the Treasurer's Office. You're either on the public's side or Wall Street's side."

Former Treasurer Bob Casey, a Democrat, resigned after being elected to the U.S. Senate. The current treasurer, Democrat Robin Wiessmann, was appointed to fill his term with the promise that she would not seek to be elected.

At tomorrow's state committee meeting in Lancaster, members will consider a party endorsement, but it takes a two-thirds vote to win the nod. Whether or not the party chooses a candidate, any Democrat can file nomination papers for a spot on the ballot.

Though Cordisco and McCord have been running quietly for months, they may not have the primary to themselves. State Rep. Jennifer Mann (D., Allentown) also is considering the race.

A former owner of a small business, Mann said her strength as a candidate would be "really understanding Main Street and putting the taxpayers first."

Tom Flaherty, the controller of Allegheny County, has also expressed interest in the race.

Businessman Tom Knox, who ran for mayor of Philadelphia in last May's Democratic primary, has been reported to be considering a run for governor or treasurer, but he has not announced his intentions.

"At this time we're not running for anything," said Josh Morrow, Knox's chief political aide.

Contact staff writer Thomas Fitzgerald at 215-854-2718 or tfitzgerald@phillynews.com.

Source: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/13701847.html

February 4, 2008

The Morning Call

Montco man posts $3M for state treasurer run

HARRISBURG -- Democratic state treasurer candidate Rob McCord finished out 2007 with a staggering $3 million in his campaign accounts, records filed with the Department of State have shown.

The tally puts McCord, a venture capitalist from Montgomery County, well ahead of his primary rival for the Democratic nomination. Lawyer and Bucks County Democratic Chairman John Cordisco finished last year with nearly $600,000 in his war chest.

McCord raised $1.7 million between June 23 and Dec. 31. He spent $110,619 of the $3.2 million available to him. He reported $7,692 worth of in-kind contributions, in which a good or service, but not cash, changes hands, and $1.2 million in debt, mostly in the form of loans from McCord to his campaign.

McCord's report is shot through with five-figure donations from the venture capital and financial sectors. And his run for an office that largely flies below the public's radar is already raising eyebrows among political observers for its fund-raising muscle and its organization.

"Of the three row offices, typically, you would think the treasurer's is the least well-known," Franklin & Marshall College political analyst G. Terry Madonna said. "I don't know of anyone who's had this kind of money at this time. It's a huge amount of money."

McCord's donors included former U.S. Sen. Harris Wofford, D-Pa., who gave $2,000, and Democratic contributor Peter Buttenwieser of Baltimore, who gave $10,000. Large contributors included a California businessman named Brian T. Malewicz, who gave $50,000, and Georgia entrepreneur Paul Connors, who contributed $25,000.

Cordisco raised $817,000 through Dec. 31, spent $218,437, and reported $34,322 worth of in-kind contributions. He also reported $385,000 in debt, mostly in the form of loans to his campaign.

The large sums raised by Cordisco and McCord in the early going also reflect the rising price of campaigns across the state -- from state House to Congress and governor, Madonna said.

The massive influx of cash to McCord's coffers prompted accusations by Cordisco that, if elected, a McCord-run treasurer's office would eventually be beholden to deep-pocketed benefactors that monitor the pension funds and other accounts overseen by the agency.

"I've been in politics for 30 years, and I'm unaware of such an assault ever being made on an office by people with a direct interest in it," Cordisco said in an interview.

McCord's spokesman, Mark Nevins, dismissed Cordisco's complaints. "I refuse to take any good government lectures from [him]," Nevins said, going on to criticize Cordisco for voting to raise his own pay while serving in the state Legislature.

More than $91,000 of Cordisco's take last year came from political committees that donated $250 or more to his campaign. Organized labor donors to Cordisco included the political wings the Laborers' District Council of Philadephia, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and Local 110 of the Teamsters Union.

Trash-hauling giant Waste Management also gave Cordisco $10,000.

McCord, Cordisco and a third Democrat, Dennis Morrison Wesley, are duking it out for the Democratic nomination this year. Former Montgomery County Commissioner Thomas Ellis is the only Republican candidate. Campaign tallies for the two were not immediately available.

State Rep. Jennifer Mann, D-Lehigh, has also expressed interest in a bid, and was expected to announce her plans this week. Mann has said she also intends to seek re-election to her 132nd District House seat.

The winner of November's general election will replace current Treasurer Robin Wiessmann of Bucks County, who is filling out the unexpired term of current U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa. Wiessmann accepted the job on the condition that she not seek a full four-year term.

-- Reporting by John L. Micek,

The Morning Call Copyright © 2008,

The Morning Call Source: www.mcall.com/news/local/all-treasurer-2-4-cn,0,6681263.story