Candidate for Allegheny County's top elected office calls for stricter campaign finance laws

Allegheny County has no campaign finance limitation, but one candidate for county executive is proposing a change.

Former Allegheny County Councilman Dave Fawcett, a Democrat from Oakmont who is seeking the county’s top elected office, said Friday that he would support more stringent and rigorous campaign finance regulations if elected.

There are now no limitations on how much money people can donate to candidates running for Allegheny County offices. Fawcett said the county should place limitations that line up with the contribution limits set for federal races. That would limit personal contributions in county races to $3,300 each election cycle.

Fawcett said Allegheny County should follow the city of Pittsburgh’s campaign finance laws.

“Federal races have limits. Our city has limits. Our county should also have limits,” Fawcett said at a news conference at the Reed-Smith law firm offices in Downtown Pittsburgh. “And there should be greater transparency through timely reporting of contributions.”

He said public reports of campaign financing should be made more often. Currently, campaign finance reports are published at the end of the year and two weeks before Election Day, Fawcett said.

“Waiting two weeks before Election Day is wrong. The law should require more reporting,” he said, suggesting that reporting should be every 60 days during the election cycle and two weeks before the election.

Fawcett said his proposal is necessary given recent news about his Democratic primary opponent, Allegheny County Treasurer John Weinstein. Fawcett said allegations about Weinstein pushing for a political deal to get back on the county’s Alcosan board show that Weinstein “has broken the trust of his public office.”

Weinstein has denied allegations and called them “deliberate smear tactics.”

Fawcett said the allegations suggest that Weinstein’s access to large campaign contributions were used to “try to intimidate” state Rep. Emily Kinkead by financing her 2022 primary opponent. Weinstein also denied that allegation. Kinkead won her 2022 election.

Fawcett said he understands the “corrosive nature of campaign money in politics.” He cited his work on a case against coal baron Don Blankenship that resulted in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2015 creating a constitutional right to disqualify a judge if they have received large campaign donations from a party in that case.

“Everyone knows how tempting, corrupting and dangerous big campaign contributions can be,” Fawcett said.

The race for Allegheny County executive is down to six Democrats and one Republican. Former U.S. House candidate Erin McClelland and Allegheny County Councilwoman Liv Bennett recently dropped out of the race, and Bennett also withdrew her name from her county council race.

In addition to Fawcett and Weinstein, other Democrats in the race include Pittsburgh Public Schools board member Theresa Sciulli Colaizzi, state Rep. Sara Innamorato of Lawrenceville, Pittsburgh City Controller Michael Lamb and activist William Parker of Garfield.

Joe Rockey, a retired PNC chief risk officer, is the lone Republican running for county executive.