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?