Good Monday Morning, Fellow Seekers.

If there's one constant during campaign season, it's that office-seekers look to make maximum hay out of their endorsements from other elected officials and party VIPs.

While these endorsements tend to have zero effect on the average voter, they have a very important effect early on in a campaign.

For loyalists and activists, they're an indicator of a candidate's viability and base of support. For donors, they're a sign that they're worth breaking out the checkbook.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Paul Mango, an Allegheny County businessman, is no different. But a recent endorsement by a trio of Republican county commissioners might have caused him an unintended headache.

That's because despite making extravagant claims about Mango's skills as a job-creator, Mango's campaign couldn't produce a single example - anywhere in Pennsylvania - where he had done that.

In fact, the record of Mango's former employer, McKinsey & Co, suggests that they are wizards in the black arts of corporate downsizing.

In a two-minute-plus web spot, GOP commissioners Diana Irey Vaughan of Washington County; Jeff Haste of Dauphin County, and Christian Leinbach of Berks County, gather to sing Mango's praises as an alternative to both the Democratic Wolf administration and the other GOP hopeful in the race (at least for right now), Sen. Scott Wagner of York County.

At the 28-second mark, Leinbach says Mango "knows how to turn businesses around that are struggling, and believe me, the commonwealth of Pennsylvania has been struggling."

At the 31-second mark in the spot, Irey Vaughan praises Mango for "[being] out there creating new jobs, expanding businesses and retaining businesses here in the commonwealth."

At the 55-second mark, Haste says Mango has the right vision for the state and will "use the workforce that we have in Pennsylvania that is second to none," to achieve it."

We asked Mango's campaign - twice - to provide concrete examples to back up that fulsome praise. It could not.

"Paul Mango started and grew the health care practice at McKinsey and he has advised businesses right here in Pennsylvania on how to grow their business in the Commonwealth," campaign adviser Matt Beynon said in an email. "His years of private sector experience with major corporations have led to an understanding of what is necessary to attract and keep well-paying jobs here in Pennsylvania."

When we went back in a second email to again ask Beynon to provide a solitary example of where Mango had created or retained jobs, he said this:

"Paul led the growth of a multi-hundred million dollar business at McKinsey & Company and in the course of this hired hundreds of employees over 8 years as the head of this business," he said. "He also advised scores of clients on growth strategies both within and beyond Pennsylvania."

In the journalism trade, we call that an evasion.

And it might be because Mango's former employer, McKinsey & Co., has a well-earned reputation for being lay-off artists.

"McKinsey might be the single greatest legitimizer of mass layoffs in history--although that would be pretty much impossible to measure. Companies do need to lay off workers in tough times, that's a simple fact," Duff McDonald, author of "The Firm," an inside look at McKinsey, told Time magazine in 2013.

"But the whole idea of corporate powerhouses laying off thousands of people during good times simply to juice profits--and, naturally, executive compensation--is something that McKinsey has definitely had a hand in as well," McDonald told Time's Gary Belsky.

In a 2009 story, the late Gawker.com ran down some of the lay-offs that bear McKinsey's fingerprints. Among other places, McKinsey trimmed jobs at Cabelvision, First Boston and even the New York City schools.

McKinsey, which popularized the term "the war for talent" also isn't shy about putting its money where its mouth is. In 2001, the company shed 201 of its own support staffers, The Wall Street Journal reported at the time.

So when Team Mango talks about "[advising] businesses right here in Pennsylvania how to grow their businesses in the commonwealth," what it means to them and what impact it has on actual workers appear to be two very different things.

The rest of the day's news starts now.

Code enforcement sweeps in Tarentum, Pa., are being welcomed - by most, The Tribune-Review reports.

Allegheny County leads the state in Bigfoot, UFO sightings, The Post-Gazette reports. Everyone should be good at something ...

A killing in Ardmore, Montgomery County, is believed to be a random incident, The Inquirer reports.

Did a former Penn prof plot the perfect murder? PhillyMag has the story.

Philly is about the get the 'Uber' of restaurant staffing, BillyPenn reports.

Here's your #Harrisburg Instagram of the Day:

The next president of Pa's biggest teachers' union isn't a teacher, NewsWorks/WHYY-FM reports.

WITF-FM would like you to meet 'Pa's pastor for pot' (via The York Daily Record).

Facing federal corruption charges, Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski was 'humbled' by a show of support at a Puerto Rican Day parade, The Morning Call reports.

Republican Guv candidate Scott Wagner took home $500k from that fund-raising with Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan last week. It's the one with the $25k maximum ask we were telling you about (via PoliticsPA).

Stateline.org profiles the volunteers who are pitching in to fight cyber-attacks.

Politico explains how Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are finding their limits in the Trump White House.

Senate Republicans 'look like fools' the POTUS said - surely encouraging further warm relations with Capitol Hill (via Roll Call).

WolfWatch.

Gov. Tom Wolf is off to Pittsburgh today for a 10 a.m. visit to Cook MyoSite, which does cell therapy and clinical testing.

What Goes On (Nakedly Political Edition).

U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-18th District, holds his annual golf outing at Laurel Valley Golf Club in lovely Ligonier, Pa. at 8 a.m. Admission runs $1,500 a head, or $5,400 for a foursome. State Sen. Don White holds the first of two golf outings today at 10:30 a.m. at Indiana Country Club. Admission runs $100 to $6,000.

Heavy Rotation.

Here's an old favorite by Deacon Blue. It's "Dignity."

Monday's Gratuitous Baseball Link.

Baltimore returned to its winning ways, handily dispatching Texas 10-6 on Sunday.

And now you're up to date. See you all back here in a bit.