HARRISBURG -- Western Pennsylvanians could have a hard time picking a candidate in the four-way Democratic primary for state treasurer on April 22.

Why? Because all four competitors hail from the eastern side of the state.

Jennifer Mann is a state legislator from the Lehigh Valley. John F. Cordisco is chairman of the Democratic Party in Bucks County, north of Philadelphia.

Robert McCord is a financial analyst from Montgomery County, another Philly suburb. The fourth competitor, Dennis Morrison-Wesley has deep roots in Philadelphia but now works as a financial consultant in Harrisburg.

Whichever Democrat wins the April 22 primary will face the lone Republican candidate for treasurer, Tom Ellis, a bond lawyer and former commissioner in Montgomery County.

The winner of the general election will replace acting Treasurer Robin Wiessman, whom Gov. Ed Rendell named last year to fill out the term of former state Treasurer Bob Casey, who took office as a U.S. senator in January 2007.

The treasurer oversees a staff of more than 500 employees, with an annual budget of about $60 million. The position pays $141,000 a year.

When the Democratic State Committee met in early January, it could not reach consensus on endorsing a treasurer. Only Mr. Cordisco and Mr. McCord competed for it, and both fell short of the 212 votes needed.

The contest is turning into a big-money race, with Mr. McCord leading the pack. He has received more than $3.1 million in contributions, including a $1 million loan from his personal accounts.

Mr. Cordisco, meanwhile, said he has raised about $800,000.

Ms. Mann has raised $1,500. She also has $48,000 available in her campaign fund from her 2006 run for state representative, according to financial statements filed with the Department of State.

Mr. Morrison-Wesley has raised just $250, according to the latest campaign filings with the Department of State.

Here's a brief description of the candidates:

Ms. Mann is seen by some as a rising star in the Democratic Party. She did, however, lose a race for a state Senate seat in 2005 to Republican legislator Patrick Browne, also of Lehigh.

"She's the only woman running for treasurer in a primary election where Hillary Clinton is running for president, which should bring out a lot of women voters who want to vote for Hillary,'' said Larry Ceisler, a Democratic campaign consultant from Philadelphia. "Jenn could also benefit from votes from progressive, first-time voters, who will turn out to vote for Barack Obama."

Ms. Mann, who has served on the House Finance Committee during all five of her General Assembly terms, argues her experience in developing 10 state budgets -- each more than $20 billion a year -- gives her important expertise in investing $4 billion in short-term investments handled by the treasurer's office.

The treasurer also sits on the boards of the State Employees' Retirement System and the Public School Employees' Retirement System, which have $110 billion in investments combined.

"I have a broad understanding of state tax issues,'' she said. "I will work to make the maximum return on taxpayers' money," she said.

John Cordisco

If elected treasurer, Mr. Cordisco would start by restricting private-sector state investments to firms that publicly disclose their performance data.

"As taxpayers, we don't know what the risk exposure is to those funds right now," he said. "The treasurer's office needs to be more of an advocate for the taxpayer."

He wants to redirect economic development investments to Pittsburgh and other parts of the state.

"So far, those funds have been invested in start-up companies in southeast Pennsylvania. It's been lopsided as far as where state dollars have found themselves," he said. "We can look to invest in other areas -- in clean technology firms, in alternative energy and other possibilities."

Mr. Cordisco claims he's been the most vocal about the source of campaign contributions in this contest. He has turned down contributions from venture capital firms and says his opponents should do the same, or agree that, if elected, they won't invest state money in those firms.

"I have a problem with [Mr. McCord] taking large sums of money from the investment community," Mr. Cordisco said. "You can't take a few million dollars and then say you're not obligated to the people who gave it to you."

Mr. McCord said his fund-raising ability reflects people's trust in him, not an expectation of favoritism in investment decisions.

"Clearly, I am an independent person. My independence is the first fire wall. Second, if you audit my largest contributors, you will see that the top tier is made up of my closest friends, who have made money with me in the past. Like most candidates, I went to my most affluent friends first, and they happen to be venture capitalists because that's my field," he said.

Third, he said, he would abstain from decisions involving them.

"I would have had to recuse myself even if they hadn't given me [campaign] money because a lot of these people are like brothers and sisters to me."

Mr. McCord says he developed a unique set of skills as a businessman and as a legislative staffer in Washington, D.C.

"I have abilities to work well in a political environment, to create consensus, to be innovative and to communicate professionally," he said.

He wants to eliminate wasteful spending, protect pensions, help attract new businesses and modernize the treasurer's office.

Many Democratic party analysts, speaking privately, think Mr. Morrison-Wesley will have the toughest time winning the primary.

Some party officials didn't even know until recently that he was running, although information on his Web site said he actually decided to get into the contest as far back as September.

He has said that his priorities as treasurer would be to safeguard pensions and to invest state money in women-owned businesses.

Mr. Morrison-Wesley told The Post-Gazette editorial board that he wouldn't hesitate to take state money away from companies that leave the state or mistreat workers. He also said that if Bank of New York Mellon moved most of its workers from Pennsylvania to New York, he'd be inclined to remove state investments from the bank.

Mr. Morrison-Wesley has never served in public office, but ran in the 1991 Philadelphia mayoral race. He lost that contest, but still considered it a successful run because he was able to put issues on the table and change the dynamics of the race.

He said he has supporters throughout the state including Allegheny County Councilman Bill Robinson.

"He has a financial background, he's straight-forward and he has a real appreciation for politics," Mr. Robinson said of Mr. Morrison-Wesley.

PRIMARY 2008