Editorial: Why did Fitzgerald pick Doven-Hallam race for endorsement?

With just over three weeks until the primary elections, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald weighed in with his first endorsement of 2023.

You might think he was prepared to recommend his pick to replace him. Fitzgerald is finishing his third term. He is just the third person to have that job. He also is the longest-serving county executive, after the one-term Jim Roddey and two-term Dan Onorato.

With so few examples for voters to compare, it would be natural for them to look to someone in his 12th year doing the work for direction.

There is a diverse field of candidates. Six Democrats will be whittled to one in the primary: former Allegheny County Councilman Dave Fawcett, state Rep. Sara Innamorato, Pittsburgh Controller Michael Lamb, entrepreneur and activist William Parker, Pittsburgh Public Schools board member Theresa Sciulli Colaizzi and Allegheny County Treasurer John Weinstein. The one Republican in the running is former PNC executive Joe Rockey.

As a Democrat, Fitzgerald might have an opinion about the party members battling to succeed him — especially as there has been a lot of very pointed talk about ethics from those in the running. But, no, that’s not the race he thought needed his stamp of approval.

Instead, he jumped into an even more contentious fight — the one between public relations firm owner Joanna Doven and incumbent Bethany Hallam for at-large member of the county council.

It’s been a race marked by mudslinging early on. That ramped up April 12, when Doven called a news conference that became a personal attack in which she called Hallam a “heroin dealer.”

Hallam has been open about her prior drug use, including before she won her first election to council in 2019. She was arrested for possession in 2014, entered a plea agreement to two misdemeanors and served four days in jail and two years on probation. She never has been charged with trafficking.

Fitzgerald endorsed Doven.

This is not surprising. Fitzgerald and Hallam have often been on opposite sides of county business. Just because Allegheny County government is dominated by Democrats doesn’t mean there aren’t political divides.

No one is required to give an endorsement. No one is owed one. The Tribune-Review does not endorse candidates because we do not feel it is in keeping with our job as objective observers.

However, it is perplexing that this is the race in which Fitzgerald would decide to spend his political capital.

Yes, Fitzgerald had experience as a county council member before he took the executive reins. Making an endorsement for council positions is not unusual. Picking a favorite for executive is what many expected.

But when one race already has become a mud fight, it doesn’t make much sense to make that the only one to engage.