Pawlowski courting Philly campaign donors

Allentown mayor dismisses talk of statewide political ambitions.

  • Mayor Ed Pawlowski
Mayor Ed Pawlowski (ROB KANDEL, THE MORNING…)
September 01, 2011|By Scott Kraus, Matt Assad and Jenna Portnoy | By Scott Kraus, Matt Assad and Jenna Portnoy

Political donors in a few weeks will pay $100 — $10,000 if they want to be a platinum sponsor — to gather on the 51st floor of one of Philadelphia's tallest skyscrapers to take in the view, sip cocktails and rub elbows with a certain Democratic politician.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter? Congressman Bob Brady, the city's powerful Democratic Party chairman? Those names are on the invitation as sponsors, but the event's featured attraction is Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski.

Two days earlier, on Sept. 19, Pawlowski will be feted at Philadelphia's popular Finnigan's Wake Irish pub as recipient of a $50-a-head beef-and-beer hosted by some of the city's union royalty, including John Dougherty, business manager of Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

What's the draw? Political observers say Allentown's mayor is testing the waters for a run at statewide office in 2014, speculation he says is premature.

Why now? It doesn't hurt that Allentown is about to embark on a $175 million arena project that will involve millions of dollars in professional services contracts to be awarded by Pawlowski appointees.

Pawlowski rejected any notion of cashing in on the arena. He is raising money now, he said, because presidential politics will suck up political cash in 2012 and he prefers to not do it in 2013, when he might be running for re-election to a third mayoral term.

"I'm focused on the work of Allentown," Pawlowski said. "I'm honored people are even bringing up my name in any discussion of statewide office. For the next few years my plan is but one thing: to focus on seeing Allentown through this exciting time of rebirth."

Invitations to Pawlowski's two Philadelphia campaign events tout sponsors who are among the biggest names in Philadelphia politics: Nutter, Brady, Dougherty, former Gov. Ed Rendell and Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Rick Bloomingdale, among others.

The invites, asking for a pricey $10,000 sponsorship, surprised some of the Lehigh Valley's most influential people when they landed in mailboxes. But several said they heard Pawlowski was considering running for governor or lieutenant governor in 2014, and that would take a lot of money.

Gov. Tom Corbett raised $24 million for his 2010 run, compared with the $220,000-plus Pawlowski spent on his own 2009 re-election. Donors interested in the construction, financing and other work tied to the arena may open their wallets and help bridge that gap.

"I understand that the mayor intends to be politically relevant on a statewide basis, and he is in the middle of a rather large, high-profile project," said T.J. Rooney, former head of the state Democratic Party. "When people sense an opportunity, they sometimes write big checks. That's not to disparage them, or suggest that it's nefarious. It's how things work."

Lehigh County Executive Don Cunningham, who raised $800,000 testing waters for a stab at the governor's mansion two years ago, said a "marquee public project in the pipeline" could help a Lehigh Valley candidate attract big Philadelphia and Pittsburgh money.

"The reason most people are going to go to fundraisers in other cities, because I've been there, is they're trying to find an access point into your backyard through some piece of business," Cunningham said.

Words aside, Pawlowski's actions signal higher aspirations, said Larry Ceisler, a Philadelphia-based Democratic consultant.

The Sept. 21 cocktail party is in the BNY Mellon Center at the law offices of the influential Ballard Spahr law firm, whose partners include Rendell. Fellow partner Ken Jarin, whose name is on the invitation as a host, was a major Rendell fundraiser and helped renegotiate Allentown's police contract in 2005. Jarin and Rendell appeared at a $250-a-head Cunningham fundraiser in 2008.

Allentown has paid Ballard Spahr $37,283 for legal work so far this year, on top of $27,748 in 2010. The firm has no role in the arena project, Pawlowski said.

For $10,000, platinum donors get 10 tickets, their name on a sponsorship board and the opportunity to personally introduce Pawlowski at the event. Just getting into the room costs $100.

"If you told me [U.S. Rep.] Charlie Dent was trying to raise that kind of money, I probably wouldn't blink," said Chris Borick, a political analyst and pollster at Muhlenberg College, "but Ed Pawlowski?"

Why would an all-star team of Philadelphia's current and former politicians, one of the city's most influential law firms and its most prominent labor leaders lend their names to fundraisers for the mayor of Allentown?

Pawlowski said Philadelphia's leading politicians, one of its most influential law firms and prominent labor leaders are supporting his fundraisers in large part because they recognize that Allentown, as the state's third largest city, is critical to Pennsylvania's success.

Morning Call Articles