McGinty campaign chair Rendell once lauded plan she's now attacking

WASHINGTON – Katie McGinty is attacking Joe Sestak in their Pennsylvania U.S. Senate primary over his praise of a broad deficit-reduction plan and talk of reforming federal "entitlements."

But that same proposal and language was once heartily embraced by McGinty's campaign chairman, former Gov. Ed Rendell.

"The plan requires tough medicine for everyone, but the solution is clear: Democrats must accept changes to make our entitlement programs sustainable and Republicans must accept tax reforms resulting in higher revenue," Rendell wrote in the Inquirer in 2012, lauding the Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction plan, a sweeping outline aimed at mixing spending cuts and tax hikes to bring the federal budget into balance.

Among its many provisions were calls to raise the Social Security retirement age and reduce the program's inflationary increases. Rendell co-chaired a group that tried to rally support for the outline. His 2012 column hailed as "brave" several Pennsylvania Republicans and Democrats who had supported it. But McGinty has blasted Sestak for also offering words of support.

Asked Wednesday about Rendell's thoughts on the plan, McGinty stood by her criticism of Sestak, accusing him of favoring cuts to Social Security.

"You'll have to speak to Gov. Rendell in terms of what his thoughts are," she said. "The voters are going to be choosing between Katie McGinty and Joe Sestak. In Katie McGinty they have a person that understands that Social Security and Medicare are vital, that these are earned benefits and I will not be part of cutting those benefits."

Sestak, she said, "is someone who has put forward a position that he believes those benefits should be cut -- it's a fundamental difference between us."

Sestak has accused her of distorting his position, saying he voted 41 times to protect Social Security and Medicare, and vowing Tuesday night not to raise the retirement age for senior citizens in line for Social Security.

His aides have said he supports the "template" of Simpson-Bowles, but the candidate himself has said in interviews that he believes the proposal is wrong on Social Security and Medicare. It called for raising the Social Security retirement age to 69 by 2075, among other changes.

"Katie McGinty's false statements show the difference in integrity of service between her and Joe Sestak," said a spokesman, Jake Sternberger. And in their campaign's first direct shot at an opponent, he said that while Sestak served in the Navy for 31 years, Mcginty made "a personal fortune" in the natural gas industry.

McGinty has sharply denied such charges, saying her work in the energy business after leading the state's Department of Environmental Protection has given her experience in the private sector that her rivals can't match.

The sharp exchange comes as Democrats' three-way primary enters its final 20 days, with Sestak leading in public opinion polls.

McGinty blasted Sestak over the Simpson-Bowles plan at Tuesday's debate and her campaign repeated the attack Wednesday, citing a January speech in which he called the proposal "the template upon which you can address both the needed raise in revenues and the proper reform of entitlements."

McGinty said seniors depend on Social Security and cannot afford to see it reduced.

"Congressman," she said in the debate, "my dad walked the beat for 35 years, he earned his Social Security, it's not an entitlement."

Sestak, a former congressman and admiral, McGinty, Gov. Wolf's former chief of staff, and Braddock Mayor John Fetterman are running in the April 26 primary. They are vying for the nomination to challenge Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) this fall.

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