A Few Endorsements

The Philadelphia Inquirer has endorsed Joe Sestak for Senate, Dan Onorato for Governor, and Patrick Murphy for the 8th congressional district. Both Sestak and Onorato have picked up several other endorsements statewide. Murphy was endorsed by the Bucks County Courier Times and the Bucks County FOP.

A few quotes:

The Inky on Onorato:

Upon becoming the Allegheny County executive in 2004, Onorato eliminated more than 600 jobs, saving taxpayers more than $30 million a year. He abolished six elected row offices, and worked with the city of Pittsburgh to consolidate services. Onorato has not raised property taxes during his tenure as county executive.

That's a record of reform and fiscal restraint that is needed in Harrisburg, where the next governor will face a budget deficit of up to $5 billion next year.

Daily News on Onorato:

His track record as executive of Allegheny County has given him firsthand experience grappling with government change; his reforms involved consolidating city and county services, and eliminating positions and row offices; and he talks convincingly and concretely of how he'd streamline Harrisburg.

He's smart, energetic and well-versed on the issues. Like us, he supports a gas-extraction tax, an end to the Florida loophole, and a reform agenda that includes term limits, a smaller Legislature, and a prohibition on lawmakers' giving themselves raises.

Bucks County Courier Times on Murphy:

In the past two years, Murphy also has paved the way for millions of dollars in economic development pouring into Bucks to expand businesses, especially those that generate wind power, solar energy and polysilicon products. He also secured funding for a green jobs academy that Bucks County Community College administers to train workers in these new initiatives.

We also believe Murphy deserves praise for voting for federal health insurance reform. Murphy and other Democrats had a mandate from the electorate in 2008 to pass such a program and they accomplished it, despite stiff resistance from Republicans, who did nothing to stall the crushing burden of galloping health insurance premiums and dropped coverage during the first six years of the George Bush administration when they had total control of Congress.

the Inky on Murphy:

Murphy was one of the first Democratic officials to support Barack Obama's candidacy for president, yet he has not been a rubber-stamp. His voting record generally has been centrist, rather than liberal.

In 2006, the Iraq war veteran rode to victory with the help of antiwar sentiment and voter fatigue with the presidency of George W. Bush. This year, the campaign is all about jobs, and Murphy can point to solid efforts he's made to bring employers to his district.

The incumbent voted for the TARP fund to bail out banks, and later for the economic stimulus bill. He rightly argues that both votes were worth it to spare the nation from a deeper recession.

Murphy also has shown political courage, leading the effort to repeal the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which discriminates against gays in the military.