Philly Dems wanted $340G in 'street money' - Wolf said no

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:

It's a Philadelphia tradition: Democratic candidates for governor and even president are asked to give hundreds of thousands of dollars in "street money" to the party's ward leaders to finance get-out-the-vote operations in the city on Election Day. They usually say yes.

Tom Wolf, asked for $340,000, said no.

The Democratic gubernatorial nominee declined to reach into his campaign fund for the money, saying he wanted to win by appealing to voters on issues and offering the chance to defeat Gov. Corbett, who remains unpopular in the city.

"I'm not one to do that," Wolf, a York businessman whose run for governor is his first, told The Inquirer last week. "I think I'm trying to appeal to people's best instincts to vote. I don't want them to vote or bring people out or do something because I'm paying them - I want them to do it because they actually think their lives might be better. It might sound naive . . . if it takes some cash to do that, then I've failed as a politician."

Wow!