Pa. Treasury primary race is mostly low-profile

With Pennsylvania's presidential primary capturing all the attention, it might be easy for Democratic voters to overlook a four-way race for the party's nod to be the next state treasurer

It's an obscure job, but one with great responsibility that includes investing billions in tax dollars.

Seven out of 10 people say they have no idea whom they will vote for in that contest April 22, a recent statewide poll shows.

As the field tries to grab voter attention, one candidate from Philadelphia's suburbs is taking shots at another in this otherwise below-the-radar race.

Many consider Rob McCord, by virtue of a huge $4 million campaign chest, the favorite in the race. He is the only candidate to air TV ads so far.

McCord, of Bryn Mawr, believes his background as a venture capitalist who embraces government gives him a head start at the job, which includes managing several billion dollars in state tax and special-purpose funds.

"There's a shortage of people who know finance, who are willing to do this job today," said McCord, a 49-year-old Harvard and Wharton graduate. "The job combines finance and politics with the opportunity to provide substantial public service."

McCord says he would use the treasurer post as a "bully pulpit" to push antipoverty and pro-business programs, and to challenge questionable spending by state agencies.

In the race, there's a lot at stake - and not only for taxpayers: Pennsylvania's two biggest state pension funds, which the treasurer helps to oversee, paid more than $600 million in fees to money managers last year, including $2.3 million to three McCord-run funds.

After his early work as a Democratic speechwriter, McCord joined Safeguard Scientifics of Wayne, a holding company that invests in technology and life-sciences firms, just as it was trying to create a suburban Philadelphia version of Silicon Valley in the early 1990s.

At Safeguard and after leaving the company in 1997, McCord helped persuade Pennsylvania officials to invest with a series of private funds he helped manage, and to support his Eastern Technology Council, a sort of Chamber of Commerce for Philadelphia-area tech companies.

Much of McCord's campaign donations have come from money managers who are themselves state investment contractors.

Another candidate, John Cordisco, a lawyer from Bristol Township and the Bucks County Democratic Party chairman, has been on the attack. He insists that McCord, if elected, would face an inherent conflict of interest: balancing what's good for his longtime allies in the money-management business against what's best for taxpayers.

McCord dismisses the accusation, saying he would recuse himself from any decisions involving managers who have given him money or worked closely with him in the past.

(McCord was a founder of the Eastern Technology Fund, which is an investor in Philadelphia Media Holdings L.L.C., owner of The Inquirer and Daily News. Brian P. Tierney, Inquirer publisher and Philadelphia Media chief executive, serves on the fund's advisory board.)

Besides criticizing McCord, Cordisco, 53, has vowed not to take contributions from money managers or investment bankers. He said he made that decision early "so that the public clearly understands where my interests lie - with their interests."

Cordisco, who said he views the job as a protector of the public funds, is running on a platform to bring more transparency to the Treasurer's Office, opening records to ensure the public knows where tax dollars are being invested and why. He wants the pension funds to start making public the list of the companies state private-equity managers invest in.

He also believes the treasury should be more involved in luring companies to the state by offering treasury-backed incentive packages.

Cordisco was elected to the Bristol Borough School Board at the age of 22. Three years later, he won a state House seat, defeating a longtime incumbent for the first of three terms. While serving in Harrisburg, Cordisco, a former steelworker, earned a law degree from Temple.

One of the other candidates is Jennifer Mann, 38, of Allentown. She has served 10 years in the state House representing Lehigh County, during which she earned a reputation as a pro-business Democrat and a rising star in the party.

She views the treasurer as the state's chief financial officer and said her Harrisburg experience made her well-suited for the role.

"A private-sector company wouldn't hire a CFO with no experience in the industry," she said.

If elected, she said, her first duty will be a top-down review of staffing and computer needs to cut cost and maximize efficiencies.

She said she also hopes to expand the treasury's program that offers loans for Pennsylvanians to make energy-efficient improvements on their homes. And she would renew a program instituted under previous treasurers to offer below-market-rate mortgages to some first-time homebuyers.

The fourth candidate, Dennis Morrison-Wesley, is a former investment salesman for Merrill Lynch and MetLife who now works as a Comcast salesman in Lebanon, Pa. He describes himself as a fiscal conservative.

Morrison-Wesley, 58, said that he supported using the treasurer's powers to withdraw state investments from companies doing business in global trouble spots such as Iran and Sudan's Darfur region, and that he would pull state deposits from banks that move operations out of Pennsylvania.

He has previously waged unsuccessful campaigns for Congress (as a Democrat) and for Philadelphia mayor (as an independent).

"I'm running this thing on a shoestring," he said. "But I've been running for treasurer for three years. My base is in Western Pennsylvania. It's looking good."

The highest vote-getter April 22 will face Tom Ellis, the only Republican in the race, in the November general election.

The winner will replace Robin L. Wiessmann, who is filling the unexpired term of Robert P. Casey Jr., who left the Treasurer's Office after winning a seat in the U.S. Senate.

Candidates for their party's nod for the two other state-wide row offices - auditor general and attorney general - are unopposed.

The Treasurer's Office has an annual operating budget of $60 million and employs 520 workers.