Subject: Katie McGinty steps down, setting up U.S. Senate run - The Morning Call
From: "Eric Schwerin" <[email-masked]>
To: "Hunter Biden" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2015 22:03:14 -0400

Katie McGinty steps down, setting up U.S. Senate run - The Morning Call

http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-pa-mcginty-to-resign-senate-run-20150723-story.html

Katie McGinty steps down, setting up U.S. Senate run - The Morning Call

Gov. Tom Wolf's chief of staff, Katie McGinty, has left her government
post, clearing the way for a bid to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey.

Wolf's spokesman, Jeffrey Sheridan, confirmed that Wednesday was McGinty's
last day on the state payroll. Her resignation was first reported by the
National Journal.

It was unclear Wednesday when McGinty would officially announce her plans
regarding the closely watched U.S. Senate race, but Democrats familiar with
her thinking expect a decision soon.

If she does enter the Senate race, McGinty would face retired Navy admiral
and former congressman Joe Sestak in the Democratic primary next year.
Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski suspended his Senate bid early this month amid
a federal investigation into the city's contracting practices.

McGinty, a former state environmental protection secretary and former aide
to Vice President Al Gore, was one of four candidates who ran against Wolf
in the 2014 primary. McGinty then teamed up with him, leading Wolf's Fresh
Start political action committee for the remainder of the campaign and then
signing on as his top aide.

Despite McGinty's fourth-place finish, political observers say she exited
the governor's race with positive reviews among voters and Democratic
insiders. Shortly after the primary ended, state Sen. Vince Hughes,
D-Philadelphia, publicly called McGinty a viable candidate for U.S. Senate.

However, her departure from the Wolf administration leaves the freshman
governor with a high-ranking vacancy as he attempts to iron out a deal with
legislative leaders on the still-unfinished state budget.

McGinty, a Philadelphia native who lives in Chester County, would enter the
contest several months after Sestak made his bid official. Sestak's head
start in voter outreach, however, stretches farther back, as he's been
working steadily to build support among rank-and-file Democrats practically
since the 2010 Senate race ended.

Still, McGinty is expected to get a financial advantage from the party
leaders who have spurned Sestak. She has been courted heavily by national
Democrats who have a fraught relationship with Sestak and have been seeking
an alternative candidate.

Sestak had $2.2 million on hand as of June 30, after raising $728,000 in
the second quarter of the year.

If Pawlowski decides to resume his campaign, he has $342,000 in his
campaign coffers.

Democratic totals pale in comparison to Toomey's most recent figures. He
tallied $8.3 million in his campaign account after raising $2.2 million
last quarter.

McGinty raised nearly $4 million and spent all of it in 2013 and 2014 in
her gubernatorial bid, campaign finance records show.

To jump-start a late entry in the race, she would need assistance from key
Democrats. But she may find more outside help from national Democrats than
the state party, which has been overwhelmed by internal disputes and
financial woes.

The dysfunction manifested itself in a 2014 spat between Wolf and state
Democratic Party Chairman Jim Burn of Allegheny County. Typically, the
party chairman leaves at the behest of the primary gubernatorial winner,
but Burn refused Wolf's request to step aside for McGinty and won
endorsement from local party leaders to stay as chairman. Wolf then set up
Fresh Start and did not help raise money for the state party.

Wolf has since shut down Fresh Start in favor of another PAC, Rebuild
Pennsylvania, headed by Mike Mikus, a Democratic political consultant from
Pittsburgh who served as McGinty's gubernatorial campaign adviser. The PAC
is so new it has not had to file a financial report with the Pennsylvania
Department of State.

As of April, the state Democratic Party had $9,906 in its coffers after
raising and spending about $2.3 million in 2014, the State Department's
most recent campaign finance reports show. That compares with $213,458for
the state Republican Party, which raised and spent about $7.3 million in
2014.

Burn announced Tuesday in a YouTube video that he will be stepping down.

Shortly after Burn's announcement, Toomey's campaign sought to capitalize
on the quarreling. On Tuesday, his campaign launched an online ad titled
Democratic Family Feud, which spoofs the long-running "Family Feud"
television game show. In the ad, a contestant is asked to pick candidates
other than Joe Sestak to run against Toomey — and McGinty's name pops up as
the fifth choice.

McGinty proved to be a good campaigner in the gubernatorial primary and the
only reason she did so poorly among voters was her lack of financial
resources, said G. Terry Madonna, political science professor and pollster
at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster.

Her work in Washington and in the primary means she has national Democratic
connections that could help her raise plenty of money for a primary race
against Sestak.

If McGinty beats Sestak, Madonna added, her gender could play a role in the
general election — as evidenced by Kathleen Kane's strong showing among
female voters in the attorney general's race in 2012 and Hillary Clinton's
open use of gender in her bid for the presidency.

"We've never had a woman U.S. senator [from Pennsylvania]," Madonna said.

But McGinty's reputation as Wolf's chief of staff has not been rosy.
McGinty angered Republicans, especially GOP Senate leaders, by accusing
them of "lining their pockets" with a pension reform bill during a speech,
resulting in McGinty's being excluded from some early budget talks.

The pension remarks were made during a May luncheon at the Pennsylvania
Press Club in Harrisburg. It was one of several speeches McGinty has made,
setting herself apart from others who held the same position in other
administrations dating to the 1970s, Madonna said.

Chiefs of staff typically function as the consummate insiders, rarely seen
and publicly heard, as they direct staff to implement a governor's
initiatives, he said. McGinty, however, is playing a dual role.

"[McGinty] has given more speeches in six months than any former chief of
staff I know did in four years," Madonna said. "Now on the downside … she
can't completely run away from what Wolf has tried to do."

The state has been without a 2015-16 budget since Wolf vetoed a $30.1
billion spending plan the Republican-controlled Legislature sent him. The
GOP-backed budget did not include any of the tax increases and tax cuts
Wolf proposed in his $33.8 billion spending plan.

Budget talks have continued this week without a deal.
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Eric D. Schwerin
[email-masked]

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