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EXCLUSIVE: State GOP handling Corbett’s payroll

The state Republican Party has been handling administration of Tom Corbett’s campaign payroll, helping him defray some costs of his gubernatorial bid in the clearest indication yet that the Attorney General is the party’s preferred candidate, according to interviews and campaign finance data.

The party itself is not footing the bill for Corbett’s primary campaign against Congressman Jim Gerlach (R-6). Rather, the Corbett campaign has given the party’s state campaign committee tens of thousands of dollars dating back to earlier this year, which the party has then used to pay salary to Corbett’s campaign staff. There is nothing particularly unusual about the process, sometimes called “funneling,” which in this case allows Corbett’s campaign to forgo the administrative costs of paying a staff.

But coming months before a nominee is chosen in the primary and before party officials have made a formal endorsement, it underscores the GOP’s belief that Corbett, not Gerlach, is its best chance to win back the Governor’s Mansion after 8 years. The arrangement, confirmed by Republican officials, was not brought to pa2010.com’s attention by the Gerlach campaign.

The state GOP did not make executive director Luke Bernstein available for an interview, but in a statement, spokesman Michael Barley said the party regularly provides such “employee services” for Republican candidates and officials, and that both candidates for governor were offered the service.

“We are reimbursed for all costs and receive contributions from these campaigns and committees to help our party conduct these critical services,” Barley said.

But in an interview, Gerlach’s campaign manager, Scott Migli, said the offer was only made when his campaign discovered the arrangement in public finance documents and confronted party officials.

Until a meeting in September, Migli said, “no one alerted us, no one offered us anything.”

Barley did not answer certain follow-up questions by e-mail, but reiterated that both candidates were offered the service and that no formal endorsement has been made in the race.

To the Gerlach campaign, which eventually turned down the party’s services, the arrangement with Corbett is proof of what many political insiders have long considered a fact—that the party wants Corbett, the only Republican to win statewide last year amidst a cascade of losses, to be its nominee.

“We were told this was going to be an open process,” Migli said. “We were told it was going to be a fair process. We don’t want to have a fight here with the state party, but it’s another indication of what the party bosses want to do.”

The party appears to have paid salaries for at least seven Corbett staffers since the beginning of the year, according to campaign finance data. The biggest recipient is Nan McLaughlin, Corbett’s senior adviser who was on board full time before campaign manager Brian Nutt. McLaughlin received about $39,000 from the party through August, while Nutt was paid more than $25,000. All expenditures are listed on the party’s campaign finance reports as “salary.”

In total, the party paid almost $119,000 to those Corbett staffers, records show. But it got even more in return—almost $136,000 from Corbett’s gubernatorial committee since May and another $59,000 from a separate Friends of Tom Corbett committee earlier in the year.

Several attempts to reach Nutt for comment were unsuccessful.

Migli, who was the state GOP’s executive director himself a few years ago, insisted such practices normally weren’t done until after formal endorsements were made, when party nominees typically co-opt much of the party organization anyway.

“It’s almost like going into a sporting event, telling everybody the rules and then suddenly telling only the home team that they changed,” Migli said. “You can’t change the rules in the middle of the game.”

November 9, 2009 at 3:35 pm

--Dan Hirschhorn

Tags: Jim Gerlach, Tom Corbett

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