McCord fires back at Ellis

Sharp criticisms delivered by Republican state treasurer candidate Tom Ellis last week at the Republican National Convention drew return fire Wednesday from his opponent, who said Ellis is "intentionally misleading" voters.

Ellis said at the convention his Democratic opponent, Rob McCord, wants to invest in terrorist-supporting nations that "hate us."

"Let me be clear -- it's absolutely false," McCord told PolitickerPA.com. "I believe he's intentionally trying to mislead people."

McCord said "of course" he doesn't want to help countries that aid terrorism and supports a measure from state Rep. Josh Shapiro (D-Montgomery County) to divest from those countries.

"I'm a little surprised by the tone because I've known Tom for years," McCord said. "If he actually thought [I would aid terrorist countries], I would hope he would pick up the phone and call me. We're all patriotic Americans."

Ellis' remarks stem from an article in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published in late August.

In the article, McCord said the treasurer must avoid the danger of being "a hero today" by divesting from these companies it might hurt pensions later.

"We can do this very efficiently and at the same time ... we can help ensure the pensioners are not hurt by anti-terrorism investment policies," McCord told the paper. "I'm very much someone who believes we are all somewhat 'social investor' -- no one wants to invest in companies with bad practices."

When read those comments Wednesday, Ellis reiterated his charge.

"I think it's pretty clear, it's an easy line. You're either for it or against it," Ellis said.

"If this was 1943, would we be sending money still to Nazi Germany to get a better return on our money?" he asked.

Ellis also clarified remarks he made at the convention about state Rep. Shapiro. He emphasized that Shapiro does not support his candidacy, but does support his philosophical goal of pulling state money from countries that aid terrorists.

Shapiro has pushed a bill in the legislature that would direct the state to divest in terrorist-supporting countries.

Reached Wednesday by PolitickerPA.com, Shapiro said he is not familiar with Ellis' plan and emphasized he supports McCord "100 percent."