Dan Onorato has been down in the polls to Republican Tom Corbett for months. The latest numbers have him down 10 as the race to Election Day picks up. And in his effort to win over the undecideds, Onorato — when he’s not giving lessons in proper pronunciation — seems to have opted, simply, to promise anything.

Even when he knows (or should know) he can’t deliver:

Taking aim at the large target of the state Legislature, Onorato says: “This is what we need: Cut the size and cost of the Legislature, stop them from being able to raise their own pay, and term limits.”
He then boasts: “I’m the guy who’s going to change Harrisburg.”
No, he’s not. The governor can’t reduce the Legislature’s size or cost, can’t prevent lawmakers from giving themselves salary increases and has no authority to establish term limits. Only the Legislature can do those things. [emphasis added]

While I’m sure many conservatives would agree with Dan Onorato’s policy goals — slimming down the size of the legislature, limiting gratuitous pay increases, mandating term limits, etc. — it’s a tough act for the would-be governor to sell to Pennsylvanians.

After all, this is a guy who’s cited Ed Rendell — a now deeply unpopular governor — as his mentor.

Rendell is the man leaving the governor’s mansion with an unemployment fund some $3 billion in the red, a failing infrastructure system, and a state budget that ballooned by more than $6 billion — from $22 to $28 billion — during his tenure.

A fiscal reformer whose mentor was Ed Rendell would have to be a man with an impressive capacity for cognitive dissonance.

That said, Pennsylvania’s full-time legislature is a costly anachronism — the type of government that presumes life will improve in proportion to bureaucrats prodigiously churning out press releases and resolutions.

It certainly needs reform, but that Dan Onorato will be the one to cajole that reform out of them seems unlikely, especially since this is the first time we’re hearing about this plan.

But when you’re down 10 points in the polls, you might be tempted to promise anything.