May 14, 2002 2 min read

Wealthy out-of-state individuals and national labor organizations haven’t forgotten, though. They apparently have a couple of friends here. And each of them wants to be the next governor. State Auditor General Bob Casey Jr. and former Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell are both raising piles of money in what could become the most expensive in-state political campaign in history. We haven’t even had the primary yet, and already the two hopefuls for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination have collected more than $20 million in contributions since November 2000.

What’s more remarkable is that more than one-quarter of each man’s campaign treasure has come from outside the state. Of Rendell’s $9.8 million in donations, $2.8 million is out-of-state money, most of it given by well-heeled individuals. For Casey, $2.7 million of his $10.8 million war chest is from sources outside Pennsylvania, a lot of it from national labor PACs.

That Rendell has been able to tap out-of-state resources so successfully isn’t surprising, since he made a lot of connections during his time as general chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Casey’s bounty wasn’t as anticipated. He’s not as well-known around the country; until he decided he wanted to be governor, he wasn’t even that well-known around the state.

Rendell’s most generous out-of-state benefactor, Chicago venture-capitalist Bruce Rauner, said he contributed $200,000 to the Rendell campaign because he cares about good government. That’s what all individuals and PACs that spread their money around at election time will tell you. Too bad that’s not necessarily their true motivation. When so much money connected to powerful people and organizations is flowing in and out of a political campaign, you can bet there’s more behind it than simply a desire for good government.

Money could well determine the next occupant of the governor’s mansion in Harrisburg. Out-of-state money at that. Can anyone who lives here be happy at such a prospect?