State of disgrace

During his six years as state treasurer, Rob McCord talked a lot about ethics (and talked a lot in general). His disappointing confession that he shook down state contractors for political support suggests it was mostly talk.

In 2010, McCord pushed for reform of the "overtly political organizational culture" of the Delaware River Port Authority. The same year, he fought for unrestricted access to state gambling board meetings in the name of public oversight and transparency. And last year, facing a shellacking in the Democratic primary for governor, he launched a guilt-by-association attack on front-runner Tom Wolf in the guise of another ethical crusade, saying he wanted to bring questions of "character and judgment" into the campaign.

But the same desperate ambition that fueled that broadside apparently drove McCord to warn potential gubernatorial campaign contributors that they "should not risk making an enemy of the state treasurer," as he put it last week in announcing his immediate resignation. McCord is expected to plead guilty to two counts of extortion involving a Philadelphia law firm and a Western Pennsylvania property management company - transgressions that are particularly disturbing in light of his long-standing responsibility for vast sums of public money.

McCord's awkward lunge at Wolf was one of a few caveats in the Editorial Board's endorsement of the treasurer in last year's Democratic primary for governor. Based on McCord's obvious intelligence and knowledge of fiscal policy, his experience as an executive in elected office and the private sector, and his record of independence and competence, we thought he was the best candidate in a strong field of Democrats seeking the nomination. Fortunately, the voters chose more wisely than we did.

A Main Line resident with degrees from Harvard and Penn, McCord had repeatedly bucked powerful members of his own party, an all too rare quality in Harrisburg. His repeated assaults on bad policy made by his fellow Democrats raised his political profile and made plenty of enemies. But they also created the impression that he wasn't cut from the same cloth as, say, the menagerie of machine-made Philadelphia Democrats caught with their hands out in recent years.

On the other hand, another once-promising Democrat from outside the usual political channels, Attorney General Kathleen Kane, failed to prosecute many of those officials. As with McCord's descent into extortion, the implication was that in Pennsylvania politics, obliviousness to ethical standards is less an occasional aberration than a widespread aspiration. Even without an explicit quid pro quo, free-for-all fund-raising from government contractors poses a perpetual threat to moral and fiscal responsibility.

At least one Democratic official reacted to McCord's admission with precisely the right sentiment. "As elected leaders ... we should act to protect hardworking taxpayers, not take advantage of them," Gov. Wolf said, while making a welcome promise to replace McCord in short order. "This type of behavior ... is simply unacceptable. I stand firm in my commitment to restore the public's trust in their government." The depth of McCord's disgrace measures the sheer scope of that task.