By Dave Anderson:
Dan Onorato (D-Allegheny County) is currently the chief executive for the county. He wants to run for governor. He is a fairly standard Southwestern Pennsylvania Democrat --- liberal/labor friendly on economics and foreign policy (if/when he ever makes a statement on those issues), and modestly conservative or uncomfortable on social positions. He fits the region fairly well, and he fits the mold of most state-wide Democrats fairly well.
He was elected to his current job in 2003, defeating the Republican incumbent, Jim Roddey on the basis of Allegheny County's natural lean and a county-wide property re-assessment that pissed off lots of folks. Roddey won in 1999 by the combination of run against a prominent Democrat who has a long history of pissing everyone off. The Republicans controlled the previous tripartate executive because the county tried to re-assess properties in the mid-90s and the Democrats got whacked for that fiasco.
Dan Onorato is not an idiot. He knows that he must not piss off the old folks (as they are the only ones who vote in a primary) nor piss off the unions as they get the old folks to the polls. Holding union support has not been a signifcicant challenge for Onorato, the SW PA unions like him on the whole. Not pissing off the old folks means that Onorato has spent six years avoiding structural finance issues in the county and avoiding re-assessments.
The process of avoiding re-assessments has been long and convoluted. Judge Wettick, a local state judge has ruled that the county must re-assess because either the base year system, or non-frequent re-assessments blatantly violate the "uniformity" of taxation clause in the state constitution. Onorato has tried to punt the problem to Harrisburg and has argued for political nullification of judicial review.
Chris Briem has, rightly, argued that Judge Wettick is the most important political player in Pennsylvania that no one has ever heard of:
Look at that.... supreme court tosses the county's attempt to delay implementation of Judge Wettick's assessment ruling even more than it has been delayed already. Has Judge Wettick become the most important person in the Commonwealth when it comes to the impending race for governor?
Judge Wettick has ordered a county-wide re-assessment in a short time frame. Unless Harrisburg passes legislation that freezes all assessments until 2011 so the issue can be "studied" some more, Judge Wettick has killed Onorato's political strategy of not pissing off the old folks.
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