11th Hour Trickery Clouds Race in District 9Then there's this -- Darlene Harris' campaign headquarters were vandalized:
With two days until the Election Day, and the campaign of Lucille Prater-Holliday gaining momentum, illegal campaign tactics are apparently being used to cloud the campaign.
A series of outgoing calls have apparently been made with the return number masked so that it appeared as if the calls were made from the Prater-Holliday campaign office.
Multiple calls are going out to the same individuals. Anyone who received a call that may have contained inaccurate or offensive information is asked to contact the campaign office at 412-259-3866.
A police report has been filed.
We are asking the campaigns of Phyllis Copeland-Mitchell and Ricky Burgess to repudiate any illegal or deceptive campaign tactics that are being used to harm the campaign of Ms. Prater-Holliday, and to let the campaign know if they have any information about the calls.
....Valerie McDonald RobertsMs. Roberts states, “I have been blessed to have had many years of corporate, legislative and administrative experiences to make me uniquely qualified to be the best candidate for County Controller in addressing Allegheny County’s challenges. The breadth of my career experiences prepares me to handle the essence of the County Controller’s job – independent fiscal responsibility for Allegheny County. ‘Good government’ and ‘reform’ are great concepts, but I have actually implemented them, and will always strive for nothing less than excellence in government.”
....Bruce A. KrausIn a letter to constituents, Councilman Kraus cited—among other accomplishments—a few examples of the many successes that he has had in his first term:Protecting libraries in our district—we will soon see a renovation of our South Side branch library. In addition, efforts are underway to bring a new state-of-the-art library building serving Knoxville, Carrick, and our other Hilltop communities Responding to our neighbors’ needs more efficiently with the opening of our Hilltop District Office on Arlington Avenue Working to reduce gun violence through responsible gun ownership legislation that requires reporting lost and stolen guns
....Patrick DowdAs a councilman, Dowd has also worked hard to address the city’ legacy issues. With his colleagues, he was able to find a solution for the city’ pension crisis that maintained important public assets, and worked to address debt and infrastructure problems that have been kicked down the road for too long. On a regional level, Dowd was instrumental in the creation of the Council of Neighboring Communities, also known as CONNECT. CONNECT is the first serious effort to bring together the City and its 35 adjacent municipalities to solve problems in an organized and collaborative way.
....Lucille Prater-Holliday“I’m looking forward to running a campaign focused on addressing the needs of low- and moderate-income families,” Prater-Holliday said. “We deserve a representative who will focus on increasing community and economic development opportunities and actively work to empower communities by giving ordinary people a voice in our political decisions.”
Marcellus Shale, is a unit of marine sedimentary rock found in eastern North America. Named for a distinctive outcrop near the village of Marcellus, New York, it extends throughout much of the Appalachian Basin, blah, blah, blah...OK. Scratch that.
Pittsburgh City Councilman Bill Peduto might have dropped out of the battle for council president but, in the end, he out-maneuvered the power brokers, vanquished his opponents and became queen-maker, while still championing the council's role as a check and balance against the mayor.He's then got a play-by-play on what happened.
It started with Peduto and Ricky Burgess battling for the top job. It ended with Darlene Harris becoming president because Peduto swung his four votes to Harris, frustrating his nemesis, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl. Through it all, Doug Shields, Bruce Kraus and Natalia Rudiak stood tall with Peduto.
A few more thoughts about the New Year's Eve Massacre ... and an attempt to clarify some of the more overheated rhetoric. Including my own.Potter isn't a big fan of such juvenile name calling, by the way. He then sums things up a bit:
I see that -- just as I predicted yesterday morning -- city councilor Patrick Dowd is trying to say that council got what it deserves when Luke Ravenstahl vetoed a bill too late in the year for council to override. Bob Mayo quotes Dowd sayingthat the mayor's 11th-hour veto is "poetic justice" for how council treated him.Dowd also repeated his charge that council acted in a "fascist" manner. Bending the rules "is what fascists do," Dowd says.
There's a broader picture here, one that council needs to think about on Monday when it chooses a president.And completes the picture:
Make no mistake about it: Council got played. Ravenstahl won, and he did so by following the rules of the game. But that isn't the question. The question is, what's council's next move? Does it go with Ricky Burgess, who is offering a more conciliatory approach to the mayor? Or does it go with Bill Peduto, who would continue a more independent path for the legislative branch?We'll see what happens this week.
If I felt like Ravenstahl were the victim here -- if I felt like he hadn't had any chance to influence this legislation -- I'd be all in favor of Burgess' approach. But Ravenstahl had every chance to lead, and chose not to. He ceded that role to council, and then -- when he didn't get the results he wanted -- decided to thwart the legislation at the last possible moment. To me, that isn't someone who deserves the benefit of the doubt going forward.
After repeated verbal disruptions, Dowd was told that as a member not present, he was not permitted to comment as a member in attendance. Dowd then leapt into the audience area, where he sat with journalists heckling, smirking, and commenting repeatedly that the council did not convene and say the "Pledge of Allegiance".I guess now that Motznik is gone Dowd felt compelled to make a grab for the title of "Clowncilman."
When challenged about his behavior, Dowd taunted Shields to have the Sergeant-at-Arms remove him. Due to the session's late hour, there was no such personnel present.
But to cast a vote for anyone except Peduto is to say, essentially, that council is content being Luke Ravenstahl's bitch.(h/t to Ms. Mon for "Stalinstahl")
We should have known.Then, after describing what happened (which the OPJ already did here) Potter continues:
We should have realized that it wasn't going to be this easy to pass a prevailing wage bill.
We should have known Luke Ravenstahl would pull something like this.
If there is any justice in this city -- and maybe there isn't, at least if you're a service worker -- here's what will happen next. City Council will realize how badly it has been used. They will see this for what it is: a craven end-run around them, an insult not just to the city's legislature, but to the entire idea of a legislative process.His reasoning:
And on Monday, they will choose Bill Peduto as their next council president.
Really, what other choice is there if council wants to be taken seriously? Ricky Burgess, Peduto's only real rival, launched his council presidency on the premise that council and the mayor's office should negotiate in good faith. But Ravenstahl's machinations have made it clear that the adminstration can't be trusted to do that. Burgess and Dowd, the only people to oppose a veto override, are teaming up on Burgess' presidential bid. Supporting Burgess' candidacy now amounts to approving of Ravenstahl's underhanded tactics.So we'll see what happens this week.
"What I can tell you is that the existing relationships we have, in many cases, are not beneficial to the residents of the city," Mr. Ravenstahl acknowledged.Someone needs to remind Fluke Ravenstahl that the circumstance which led him to face two elections in three years is the same one that installed him in the office without an election.
"I think what's been unique in my three years, from day one and even as we sit here today, I've constantly been running for office," he said. "One of them [Councilman Patrick Dowd] ran against me. Another one [Councilman William Peduto] started to, a third [Council President Doug Shields] had indicated his interest, and so that political battle that they've been engaged in really has been unhealthy for city government."
"When you look back and consider some of the things that have been said -- I mean literally accusations that this administration should be in jail, or I should be in jail, or I've broken the law, some of the personal attacks that they make -- it's very difficult for me to deal with somebody that believes that or at least says that."Let's also remind Lukey that he both threatened the paychecks of Council's staff and had his creature threaten his opponents on Council with immediate removal from office for crossing him.
The mayor insists he wants better ties in the future, but added: "Right now, I don't sense the other side of the hall, the majority of the other side of the hall -- I do have some good relationships -- being genuine about putting the past behind us. If they're genuine about it, then we're genuine about it, but it's hard for us. We can't make the entire lift; it has to be a two-way street."
 | I received a call at 7:05PM on Saturday night and on comes the recorded voice of Patrick Dowd and I assume it's a typical campaign call, but it turns out to be anything but typical. Turns out it was a virtual town hall. Once I signaled my agreement to participate I was connected to a live telephone conference with mayoral candidate Patrick Dowd and thousands of my fellow Pittsburghers. The moderator said that 2,000 people were on the line over the course of the event (the number of folks participating ebbed and flowed throughout the hour-long call). Everyone was invited to ask questions of the candidate and Dowd had time to take about a dozen of them. The questions asked were wide-ranging and included pensions/debts, employment, air quality, city/county consolidation, ending waste, youth curfews, and community development. |
The P-G endorsed Patrick Dowd for Mayor, not Lukey SteelerstahlBathroomstahlWTFenstahlRavenstahl.The P-G endorsed Georgia Blotzer for City Council District 2, not Theresa SmithKail-SmithSmith.The P-G endorsed Natalia Rudiak for City Council District 4, not Patrick "Who?" Reilly.
The back-and-forth started with Mr. Dowd standing across the street from the Grant Street Transportation Center, with its unfinished Lamar Advertising electronic billboard. His campaign staff brought a cardboard check for $101,000 -- the approximate amount of post-resignation payments and benefits that former Urban Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Pat Ford is getting as part of an agreement that bars him and city officials from disparaging each other.This isn't the first time that the P-G has used what had to have been the least flattering picture taken to illustrate an article. Remember this one which made the very tall Dowd look like a dwarf?
"That's hush money!" Mr. Dowd shouted, as his neck reddened and passers-by stopped to listen. "That's a sign of corruption. That's unacceptable in this city."
That arrangement stemmed from winter 2008 revelations that the city -- with guidance from Mr. Ford -- let Lamar have a permit and a no-bid contract to put a 19-by-58-foot sign on the center. When Mr. Ford confirmed that he'd received Christmas gifts from a Lamar executive, a State Ethics Commission review ensued, Mr. Ford accused the administration of a "culture of deception and corruption," and the two sides reached the settlement that Mr. Dowd brandished yesterday
