The front-runner in the Democratic race for governor is acutely feeling the target on his back. Tom Wolf continues to receive demands from opponent Allyson Schwartz for more details of his campaign’s financing.
Wolf, who said he gave $10 million of his own money to his campaign, has released a summary of a $4.45 million loan he took out as part of that self-financing effort.
The disclosure came at the behest of fellow gubernatorial candidate Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz. During a debate last week, Schwartz said voters deserve to see loan documents, not a mere summary.
But Wolf’s campaign has said loan documents would reveal personal information, and the York County businessman himself said the only collateral he put up is all his own.
“Because I didn’t want to burden the company, I pledged personal assets,” Wolf said, referring to his cabinet and distribution company, Wolf Organization. “There are no company assets pledged in this campaign.”
Schwartz is calling Wolf’s move to share only a summary of the terms of his loan a backtrack on comments Wolf made at a debate last week that he would share loan documents.
“Unfortunately, one must now ask what is so damaging in those documents that forces Wolf to break his promise?” said Mark Bergman, spokesman for the Schwartz campaign, in a written statement. “One can only conclude that Tom Wolf has something to hide.”
“This is sort of like mortgaging your house to do something you want to do, and I acknowledge I have done that,” Wolf said in an interview Wednesday with Radio Pennsylvania. “My wife and I have pledged our personal assets, but that’s it.”
Wolf has led the Democratic gubernatorial field in recent surveys of Pennsylvania registered Democratic voters. Pollsters attribute it to his sweeping television ad campaign across the state. The same polls show Schwartz to be the second leading candidate in the race.
State Treasurer Rob McCord and former Department of Environmental Protection secretary Katie McGinty are also running for the Democratic nomination.
