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Corbett-Wolf race broke spending record

Reported spending in this year's Pennsylvania race for governor hit a record $82.3 million Thursday, as the last two contenders filed their postelection campaign-finance reports.

Reported spending in this year's Pennsylvania race for governor hit a record $82.3 million Thursday, as the last two contenders filed their postelection campaign-finance reports.

Gov.-elect Tom Wolf, a Democrat, and his Republican rival, Gov. Corbett, spent about $9 million between them in the final five weeks of the campaign, the reports show. Wolf spent $4.6 million and Corbett $4.3 million during that period.

Overall, Wolf outspent Corbett by $32.5 million to $28 million. Three losing candidates in the Democratic primary raised and spent just under $22 million.

One number stood out in the latest reports: The $100,000 that Wolf's campaign contributed to one of those Democratic rivals, Katie McGinty, three days after the Nov. 4 election. The payment erased her campaign debt.

A former state environmental secretary, McGinty will be Wolf's chief of staff.

The governor-elect "didn't want there to be an appearance of any conflict of interest, or for Katie to have to spend time retiring campaign debt," Wolf transition spokesman Jeffrey Sheridan said Thursday.

Sheridan said Wolf is asking donors to pay for the transition - and will disclose their names - rather than using the $250,000 in taxpayer funds set aside for the purpose.

This year's gubernatorial campaign surpassed the $69.6 million record set in the 2002 race, when Ed Rendell won a competitive Democratic primary and dispatched Republican Mike Fisher, then state attorney general, in the fall. Rendell remains the all-time individual campaign spending champion at more than $40 million.

The latest totals for Corbett and Wolf do not include spending by "super PACs" and other outside groups, which report separately to federal officials.

Wolf received $90,000 from several labor political action committees during the period, while the largest PAC donation to Corbett came from the state GOP - $110,000.

The largest individual donors to Corbett during the final stretch were natural-gas magnate Terrence M. Pegula and John M. Templeton Jr., the Main Line investor and philanthropist. Each gave $75,000.

Businessman and philanthropist Armand Dellovade of Washington County, in Western Pennsylvania, gave Corbett $25,000, as did George Ball, chief executive of the garden supply company W. Atlee Burpee, based in Warminster.

Wolf's biggest individual donor was his father, William, who gave $200,000. Next was $150,000 from M. Thomas Grumbacher of Bon-Ton Stores Inc.

Pennsylvania does not limit individual donations to state races.