The editorial board of The Philadelphia Inquirer, the state’s largest newspaper, has announced its endorsement of Auditor General Jack Wagner for Governor.

The Inquirer is the first newspaper to announce its choice among candidates competing in the Democratic gubernatorial primary on May 18th.

In an editorial published in Sunday’s edition, the newspaper put it simply:

Wagner’s background as a fiscal steward makes him best of all of the Democratic candidates.

Read the full press release here.

Read the Inquirer’s article here.

“I am honored for the Inquirer’s endorsement and its recognition of the record and experience that I would bring to the job as Governor,” Wagner said. “If elected, I pledge to be a Governor that families in southeastern Pennsylvania and all across the Commonwealth can trust and count on.”

Highlights of the endorsement follow:

“He promises to maintain that approach if elected governor. Among his proposals, he would end expensive sole-source or emergency contracts to just one bidder, and end pay-to-play deals where state contracts can be traced to political donations. Wagner supports a constitutional convention to consider the size and scope of state government. To help get the state to shape up fiscally, he would deny pay to legislators for every day the state budget is late. Wagner also would eliminate bonuses for state workers, support caps on political donations, and have an independent commission redraw legislative district lines.”

“Wagner’s background makes him a very attractive candidate. The Marine veteran earned a Purple Heart in Vietnam. After graduation from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, he became a safety engineer and joined the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. He served 10 years on the Pittsburgh City Council and 10 years in the state Senate. Wagner was elected auditor general in 2004 and was reelected in 2008, receiving the most votes of any candidate on the ballot in that presidential election year. That’s a tribute to his determination as a fiscal watchdog. Under Wagner, the Auditor General’s Office has completed more than 25,000 audits that have saved taxpayers millions of dollars.”

“Many of now-Gov. Rendell’s deep-pocketed campaign contributors are on the Onorato bandwagon, suggesting that they may think he would be a sequel to Rendell. But this is not a time when voters want what they’ve already had. Coming out of the recession, with state budgets across America desperate for resuscitation, they want elected leaders who make hard decisions about spending and taxes that they can confidently expect to be devoid of any calculation other than the best bottom line. The Democrats’ best choice to provide that type of fiscal leadership is someone who is already taking a focused, unbiased look at how Pennsylvania can do a better job managing its budget.”