Dan Onorato

PHILADELPHIA — Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato said Wednesday he would support requiring jobless people to look for work as a condition of receiving an unemployment check, even as he continued to criticize his Republican opponent for questioning the work ethic of unemployed Pennsylvanians.

Onorato, who made the comment in an interview with The Associated Press shortly before he renewed his attack on state Attorney General Tom Corbett at a campaign rally at Philadelphia's City Hall, said he was unaware the state does not require recipients of unemployment benefits to seek new jobs.

"Obviously, I would support that," he said. "To me, that's a reasonable request."

Onorato, the chief executive of Allegheny County, said Corbett distorted the situation when he said Friday that "the jobs are there," but that some unemployed people would rather continue collecting unemployment checks than return to work.

Corbett, whose comments also have drawn criticism from newspaper editorialists, acknowledged in an AP interview Tuesday it was "not a well-worded comment" and he believes the "vast majority" of unemployed Pennsylvanians are eager to go back to work. But he too said he supports a work-search requirement.

"I think the American people expect people to look for a job," Corbett said in the interview.

There is currently no such requirement in the state unemployment compensation program, but past emergency federal extensions that kick in after state benefits run out have included one, according to state Labor and Industry Department officials.

In Pennsylvania, unemployment compensation covers no more than half of a laid-off worker's pay — up to $564 a week — for 26 weeks, and workers offered their old jobs back can be cut off from assistance if they refuse.

Pennsylvania's unemployment rate reached a 26-year high of 9.1 percent in May.

Onorato said that number reflects the disappearance of jobs in the state.

"If you think somebody is staying home because they get an unemployment check, and they have an opportunity to double their take-home pay by going back to work ... that is not what's happening out there," he said.

Onorato said he supports ongoing efforts in Congress to approve an emergency extension of federal jobless aid, but took no position on the partisan stalemate over whether that should be financed by borrowing or cuts in already approved spending.

On other topics covered in the interview, Onorato:

n Promised to do "everything in my power" not to increase personal income or sales taxes if elected governor, but said he favors certain other tax increases. Potentially the most lucrative is a prospective tax on natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, but Onorato said he also would push for extending the tobacco tax to cigars and smokeless tobacco despite past legislative rejections.

n Said he would not propose privatizing the liquor and wine business, partly because the state stores generate nearly $500 million and are not a factor in the state's larger financial problems. "That's not the battle that I'm going to be fighting if I get four to eight years" as governor.

n Blamed the Legislature for simmering voter animosity toward state policymakers. "People don't want to hear about money going to Harrisburg because they don't believe that it's being spent wisely, and they're right. The Legislature should be leading by example and they're not."

n Said he would support turning over management of the state parks to private conservancies that would raise private money to augment limited state support. "It's a way to fix our parks and use those assets to generate the revenues to fix them because the government simply doesn't have the money."