Wednesday, November 05, 2003

By Timothy McNulty, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Holiday garland wrapped the ballroom where Dan Onorato held his victory party last night, as he delivered Democrats their first control of Allegheny County's executive branch in eight years.

	Dan Onorato returns a warm greeting after voting at St. Cyril's on the North Side yesterday morning. (Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette) Click photo for larger image.

The celebration was a rambunctious gathering, as party officials let off steam built up through a hard-slogging campaign. First among them was Onorato, 42, now the top Democrat in Western Pennsylvania as county chief executive.

Onorato, who defeated incumbent Republican Jim Roddey, walked into the ballroom at the Omni William Penn Hotel at 10:57 p.m. to a high-decibel reception -- with the disco beat of "Get Ready for This" swelling amid shouts of "Danny! Danny!"

"We have a golden opportunity starting tomorrow to really implement the ideas we've been talking about," Onorato said, with family and supporters surrounding him, and his son, Danny, 6, on his arm. "I want to thank the voters of Allegheny County for a golden opportunity."

Besides savoring the win, which appeared apparent throughout the evening, as well as in polls leading up to Election Day, one Democrat after another last night was quick to denounce Republican campaign tactics, saying they were negative and turned voters their way, rather than turning them off.

Those tactics included tying Onorato, a city councilman from 1992 through 1999, to the financial problems facing Pittsburgh, which will have an estimated $80 million deficit next year.

"When the Roddey campaign stooped to pitting the city vs. the suburbs, that's when it seemed like [the race] was turning," said David Caliguiri, 31, son of Pittsburgh's late Mayor Richard S. Caliguiri and a lobbyist for Eckert Seamans.

Caliguiri, whose mother, Jeanne, supported Jim Roddey over Democrat Dr. Cyril H. Wecht four years ago, also said voters seemed to like Onorato more than the often irascible Wecht, the county coroner.

The other main buzz of the night in the crowded Grand Ballroom, oddly, was not Onorato but one of his former colleagues on Pittsburgh City Council, Alan Hertzberg.

Hertzberg was the target of an attack ad by supporters of his de facto opponent for an Allegheny County Common Pleas Court judge seat, Republican Jill Rangos. According to Democrats, the viciousness of the ad sent voters Hertzberg's way.

Onorato showed a strong performance in the same the Squirrel Hill districts which Wecht lost to Roddey in the executive's race four years ago.

"The precincts in Squirrel Hill are going for Dan," Onorato's campaign chairman, Gerald Voros, said before the final results were tallied. "Where Cyril lost, Dan is carrying it with ease."

	Newly elected Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato displays a t-shirt imprinted with a reproduction of the front page of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from his primary victory. (Gene J. Puskar, Associated Press) Click photo for larger image.

Democrats were convinced that negative Republican ads had a boomerang effect on their candidates.

"Didn't they learn anything from the [Bob] Casey campaign? They went negative against [Gov. Ed] Rendell and it bounced back at them," city Councilman Jim Motznik said, referring to last year's Democratic primary for governor.

"Dan was proud of his record on City Council. I think the voters rejected Roddey's strategy [of pinning the city's fiscal woes on Onorato]," said Onorato campaign manager Kevin Kinross. "Blaming on one person the city's problems I don't think was very realistic."

Kinross, Caliguiri and even Onorato himself were part of a strikingly young cast last night.

Onorato, of Brighton Heights, began thinking about running for City Council while a student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, unseating incumbent Baldy Regan in November 1991. Eight years later he ran for controller and after one term there, ran for chief executive.

Besides delivering the executive branch back to Democrats -- Republican commissioners Larry Dunn and Bob Cranmer took control in 1996; Roddey in 2000 -- Onorato will also try to represent a new Democratic Party.

The challenge now is living up to new Democrat promises, whether that means cutting down the Democratic-controlled county row offices or following through on the job and economic development issues he continually hammered in the campaign.

"The main challenge begins after this day," said state Rep. Jake Wheatley, D-Hill District, who said African-American voters and others are waiting to see how Onorato performs. "They want to hold him accountable for all the things he said."

Tim McNulty can be reached at tmcnulty@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1542.

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