Democrat Dave Fawcett announces run for Allegheny County Executive

A former Allegheny County councilman said Thursday that he is running to replace outgoing County Executive Rich Fitzgerald.

Attorney Dave Fawcett, 64, of Oakmont, said he is seeking the Democratic nomination in next year’s race. He joins a growing Democratic field, which already includes Allegheny County Councilwoman Liv Bennett, Pittsburgh Controller Michael Lamb, former congressional candidate Erin McClelland and state Rep. Sara Innamorato.

Fawcett grew up in Shaler and attended Carnegie Mellon University and then the University of Pittsburgh for law school. Fawcett, a partner at the Pittsburgh-based law firm Reed Smith, said he focuses mostly on cases “taking on companies who have taken advantage of people or small businesses.”

Fawcett, who ran for attorney general in 2016, cited his work on a case against coal baron Don Blankenship that resulted in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2015 creating a constitutional right to disqualify a judge if they have received large campaign donations from a party in that case.

“I believe in accountability and fighting for what’s right and fair,” Fawcett said.

He touted his experience on Allegheny County Council from 2000 to 2007. Fawcett said he wants to revive an idea he pushed while he on council years ago — creating a countywide riverfront park. He said he wants one side of one of Pittsburgh’s three rivers to be a linear park that stretches for miles, with trails, amenities, greenspace and bridge connections to the other side of the river.

Fawcett was a Republican during his time on county council. He said he became a Democrat after leaving office and voted for President Barack Obama.

“The (Republican) party was moving in a certain direction that I wasn’t,” Fawcett said. “I didn’t change, the party did.”

In addition to his private case work, Fawcett said he also does pro-bono work for criminal defendants, where he said he has learned about the problems of the local criminal justice system and Allegheny County Jail. He, along with the American Civil Liberties Union, brought a lawsuit against the jail on behalf of pregnant women being held there, and the jail changed its solitary confinement policies involving pregnant women after.

“That really opened my eyes,” he said. “The system is not fair, particularly to people with lesser needs.”

Allegheny County Jail Warden Orlando Harper has come under scrutiny because of ongoing issues at the jail. Fawcett didn’t commit to replacing the warden if elected, but said he would bring in outside experts and determine how to best move forward.

Fawcett said he also is focused on trying to reverse Allegheny County’s struggles with bringing back jobs following the pandemic. The Pittsburgh region has one of the slowest post-pandemic employment recoveries of any large region in the country.

“Columbus, Ohio, is beating the pants off of us. Rochester, N.Y., is beating us,” he said.

He said he wants the Pittsburgh region to become an innovation hub to grow its thriving tech industry and create downstream jobs from those companies.

He cited the petrochemical cracker plant in Beaver County, which refines natural gas into plastic pellets.

The plant has drawn criticism from environmentalists who are concerned about its impact on air and water quality. Fawcett said he wasn’t for or against the plant, but noted that the plant is “here now, and we need to look for ways to develop jobs from it.”

“I have a career of taking on power, and getting results, I do think that this election is about who is best at getting results,” Fawcett said.