Williams fires first salvo at Onorato

Fifteen days ahead of the primary election, State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams has launched the first negative TV ad in the campaign for Pennsylvania governor.

The ad is aimed at Democratic front-runner Dan Onorato and attempts to undermine the main theme of Onorato's campaign - that he has transformed the Pittsburgh area in his role as the elected Allegheny County executive.

Williams' 30-second spot, running in much of the state but not in Philadelphia, disputes Onorato's claims about the jobless rate in his county and says he raised various taxes there.

Onorato, in a statement, struck back by assailing Williams as an anti-reform legislator who twice voted to increase his state salary and once voted to sweeten his government pension.

Political scientist Chris Borick of Muhlenberg College said the suddenly negative tone of the campaign was almost inevitable. Tracking polls done at Muhlenberg show Onorato starting to pull away from Williams and two other rivals in the May 18 primary.

Williams, of Philadelphia, who has said he expects to spend $5 million in his late-starting primary campaign, is the only one of Onorato's rivals who appears to have the wherewithal to go directly at him in ads.

"Williams believes that he's not going to win this thing without bringing Onorato back to the pack a little bit," Borick said. "And the only way to do that is to attack Onorato's record."

Borick said the other Democrats in the race - state Auditor General Jack Wagner and Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel - are no doubt rooting for Williams' attack.

"He is doing the work for everybody," Borick said.

The Williams ad opens with a narrator saying:

"Dan Onorato says he's kept unemployment low. But unemployment in his county has risen a whopping 30 percent in just the last year - faster than the state and the nation."

The ad continues: "Our families are hurting, but Onorato has raised taxes and fees on our families by millions on everything from swimming to parking, and Onorato even created a new tax on drinks."

It ends: "Onorato says he's the change we need. Is Onorato the change you need?"

The Williams campaign claims appear to be factual, though a bit out of context in some cases. Onorato did not dispute the claims directly.

The campaign says the swimming pool and parking issues refer to votes that Onorato took in the 1990s as a member of the Pittsburgh City Council.

While unemployment rolls are up almost everywhere in America from a year ago, including Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh region's rate is still below the state overall - 8.9 percent, compared to 9.4 percent, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

State unemployment figures - compiled somewhat differently from the federal data - show Allegheny County with an unemployment rate of 8 percent, compared with 9 percent for the state.

To provide steady funding for mass transit in Allegheny County, Onorato and the County Council imposed a 10 percent tax on drinks poured in bars that went into effect in 2008. The tax has since been lowered to 7 percent.

Onorato, in his statement, said: "The facts are clear that even in this national recession, Allegheny County's unemployment rate is below the state's and the nation's. And since Dan Onorato became executive of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania's second-largest county, he has balanced the budget for each of the six years he's been in office without once raising property taxes."

Both Williams and Onorato have been airing positive ads about themselves in recent weeks. But Onorato seems to have gained more traction.

A Muhlenberg tracking poll of 405 likely Democratic voters, released Monday, showed that Onorato has by far the highest favorability rating among the candidates - more than double that of any other.

Asked whom they planned to vote for - or were leaning toward - 39 percent said Onorato, 7 percent said Williams, 7 percent said Hoeffel, and 6 percent said Wagner. The rest - 41 percent - were not sure.

Hoeffel's camp says he will launch an ad for himself Wednesday in Philadelphia. Wagner has yet to run any TV commercials.