Gov. Ed Rendell today accused Republican governor candidate Tom Corbett of urging illegal voter suppression and suggested he should not be running for governor.
Rendell was speaking at the Black Clergy endorsement of Democrat Dan Onorato. His evidence was a video of Corbett telling the Delaware County GOP to keep the Philadelphia Democratic vote below 50 percent during next Tuesday's general election.
Rendell and Onorato could not say how the Delco GOP could suppress the local vote.
"He urged people to break the law," Rendell said after the event. "Voter suppression is against the law. And he clearly urged them to break the law. Now does he have a plan? How would we know? You'd have to ask him."
Onorato said he didn't want to "put words in his mouth" when asked what Corbett might have meant. "I think it's pretty powerful," Onorato said. "I think it's very clear what he's implying."
Here's an Associated Press story about that video. According to the AP, Corbett's people say his remarks were taken out of context.
UPDATE, 1:45 pm: Corbett spokesman Kevin Harley just e-mailed to call Onorato's complaint a "last-minute desperate attack."
"As usual, Dan Onorato isn't interested in the whole truth. In the same breath as the only sentence that Dan Onorato would have you see, Tom Corbett said that he hopes for 100 percent turnout across Pennsylvania," Harley's e-mail continues. "Tom also expressed his hope that his campaign would receive support from Democrats, Republicans and Independents."