Democracy Has Prevailed.

January 29, 2007

Welcome Aboard, Councilman Motznik!

It's getting messy out here, gang.

Councilman Jim Motznik has a blog. Rich Lord has the story.

City Councilman Jim Motznik is blogging, and Pittsburgh politics is a more perilous place.

The outspoken Overbrook Democrat today became one of politics early adopters of Web blogging, a six-year-old phenomenon in which a commentator posts thoughts and images online, usually unedited.

And:

His first targets, in posts made this afternoon, were Councilman William Peduto and local blogger John McIntire. But Mr. Motznik stressed that no political topic would be off limits.

Here's a taste of what he said on the blog:

Anyone remember McIntire on “The Real Deal” with Marty Griffin? Well if you don’t I’m sure Marty still does. “The unofficial speculative version” is that callers would dial in and when they would get on the air to either ask a question or make a comment McIntire would shut them up if he didn’t agree with what they had to say – referring to callers as “morons” and telling them to brush their teeth, because all Pittsburghers have brown teeth.

Wow, he came out swinging, didn't he?

Actually McIntire did not say what Motznik says he said. There was a caller and he said some silly things and McIntire called him a moron. That part is true. However in response to something the caller said, McIntire, in a thick Pittsburghese accent, told the guy to go have another cigarette because "you're teeth aren't brown enough yet." It was a joke, by the way. Perhaps Motznik missed that point. It may not have been the most tasteful way of pawning off a goofy caller, but that's what McIntire did. He said nothing about "all Pittsburghers having brown teeth."

For those of you who don't know (or who don't remember) Jim Motznik is the guy who thought he was going to be city council president a few months ago - until the council actually voted on it and Doug Shields got 7 out of 8 votes (the eighth being, of course, Jim Motznik's).

We blogged on it here.

And lest we think that Jim Motznik is a neutral party in the coming election, take a look at what Jon Delano wrote in December, 2005 about Luke Ravenstahl's becoming Council President:
So Motznik, in some quarters, masterminds the election of young Ravenstahl. Why? To get back at Bodack and the other council members who refused to support him. Others say that gives Motznik too much credit -- that Luke was just a good compromise choice. In any case, Motznik, Ricciardi, Deasey agree to back Ravenstahl, but, of course, Luke still needs a fifth vote. Enter, according to some sources, Mayor-elect Bob O'Connor. The story, which is vehemently denied by others, is that O'Connor got his protege and one-time top aide, councilman Doug Shields, to give Ravenstahl the fifth vote -- and the council presidency. Why would O'Connor and Shields do that? Well, nothing helps a mayor more than a city council president who owes him something.

And so if Delano's sources are right, it's obviously very important for Jim Motznik's guy (Ravenstahl) to get elected mayor over Bill Peduto. If Ravenstahl looses, then all those favors would be flushed down the drain, wouldn't they?

And we should mention Motznik's history with McIntire as well. Check this aht. McIntire wrote last October:

Council's May 31 "debate" about new spending limits was laughable.

Councilors Bill Peduto and Doug Shields introduced a measure that would have stopped an absurd practice. Currently, as Shields put it, if a councilman wants to, he can take, say, $500 out of his miscellaneous account, and go hand out $1 bills to kids in the park.

Such practices are "for each council member to decide," says Councilor Jim Motznik, who knows a thing or two about milking the system. He was double-billing the city for gasoline until he was called on it by WTAE Channel 4. Then he took off running when they tried to confront him on camera.

That part's actually true. Here's the link to the TAE story.

Anyway, Motznik ends his first blog posting with this:
Well, MotzYappers, that’s all for now. I am sure you will hear from me soon enough because this campaign will be quite a mess and I will be here to make sure we can all wade through the shit and get to the truth!
But who's shit would we need to wade through?

20 comments:

Shawn said...

Come what may, I can't Councilman Motznik's future getting any brighter. A Ravenstahl win, in fact, might be even worse than a Peduto victory. At least with Peduto, Mr. Motznik would have a foil against whom he could rail. I think a Ravenstahl victory would mean that he would be quietly "demoted" within Luke's circle of political allies as many around the current mayor see Councilman Motznik as a long-term liability.

Anonymous said...

I guess Motznik hasn't learned that Ravenstahl was hiding in Skrinjar's office when he needed his help to fend off the Shields' council presidency push.

Anonymous said...

I just read Jim's blog post.

You don't suppose he's getting any assistance from another city hall blogmeister in need of a new outlet?

Anonymous said...

That "wading in the shit" comment's real cute, remember Motznik in his hip boots? Ah, goodtimes...

What a clown.

When's the circus coming to town? Motznik will need a new job by then.

Anonymous said...

Finally! Someone to fill the whacko shoes (or sewer boots in this case) of Jim Traficant!

Anonymous said...

First I learn about Motznik's blog, which appears to be the work of a functionally illiterate gas bag, then I hear about the 'outing' of the infamous Matt H., that purveyor of stellar repartee enjoyed throughout this town's blogworld.

Matt's a local government employee. What a fun little project it'd be to tally up all of the posts he's made on myriad blogs during the WORK week.

I'd do the research, but alas, at my job I must actually work.

Matt, dude, glad my tax dollars are paying you to type such cleverly crafted, inspirational rejoinders as "You suck."

I'd claim you as my muse, but the Honorable Motznik's giving you a real run for the title.

Anonymous said...

Thank You, Jesus.

Now we have something to talk about.

Anyone else download the KDKA podcast of Motznik going crazy on Griffin?

Anonymous said...

A vote for Luke is a vote for Motznik. Jimmy & Lukey have been buds for years, in fact, Jimmy was Lukey's true mentor, not Bobby O'. If Lukey wins, look for Jimmy to jump to the other side of the hall, maybe fill Denny R's size 6 Buster Browns...

Motznik absolutely engineered Luke's council presidency, however, given the obvious danger they've now gleaned from whimsied choices in their council prez, Motznik was halted from engineering his own rise.

I was hoping the gas thief would include running (no pun intended) footage of himself running from reporters into a downtown bank.

Jonathan Potts said...

Blogging is now truly dead.

The Burgher said...

Luke and Jim are two peas in a pod.

I can see Luke hiring Jim as Director of Public works. Jim would double his salary and wouldn't have to run against Coghill.

Anonymous said...

I think Running Man Motznik's blog is only going to hurt Luke. It comes across not only as a desperate politician who barely won his last election sucking up to the mayor by defending him, but also as the elder Motznik sticking up for the young and helpless Luke. It gives the appearance that Luke can't fight his own battles. I wonder if Motznik walks Luke to work to make sure no one steals Luke's lunch money.

Anonymous said...

Gee willikers, I think that sometimes Jimmy Motznik gets his research from Elmo and the Cookie Monster.

...thought you all might need a fix...

Anonymous said...

Looks like a solid piece from Jim.

Nice to see an elected official doing a blog.

Anonymous said...

A sizeable section of the O'Connor crowd couldn't stand Motznik...remember Anthony Coghill?

Motznik is also Diven's protege. He supported Diven when he ran as a Republican for Jack Wagner's old Senate seat. Motznik, then was the Mayor's mentor.

There are a lot of Democrats around town that are upset over Motznik's support of Diven.

Anonymous said...

I think Luke should let the world know of his close relationship with his mentor Jimmy by replacing all of his 311 Redd-Up billboard photos w/Motznik's yellow boot blog photo.

Anonymous said...

Recalling a comment from Denny Regan that "shit rolls downhill" and that Commander Brackney would be "in the shit", Luke's closest friends appear to be intimately familiar with shit. Wonder why?

Anonymous said...

He did a blog and didn't make a reference to nailing Betty Ford? He's already ahead of McAsshole.

Anonymous said...

Hear Hear Here. Hear! Here!

Joe said...

Dan Onorato's proctologist called. He found Ravenstahl's head.

Amos_thePokerCat said...

Here is Griffin's rss feed for his "podcast". KDKA does not do much of a podcast, more of a "clip"-cast, and then it is up to the host what to make available. Marty is a little slow about things like that.

McYipper however does not have a blog, more just a plain old one way web site, since he is too chicken to allow comments.

Never saw Motznik's blog, or if it allowed comments, since by time the whining and crying got so bad that I could no longer ignore it, it was gone.