L. "Scooter" Ravenstahl: Third Documented Incident of Luke LYING

Both The Burgh Report (here and here) and MacYapper have already blogged on the hot Tribune-Review story (and its many ramifications) wherein Luke Ravenstahl has been caught once again lying to the media -- which means he's also lying to John Q. Public.

This time he lied about having missed a meeting with representatives of the Hill District because he was too busy partying all night in New York City. When caught in the lie, Luke claimed confusion because the reporter had referred to the trip as being Penguins-related and Luke says it had nothing to do with the Penguins. The trip was with the team's co-owner, Ron Burkle, and it occurred right after announcing a $290 million deal to build a new arena for the Penguins.

The Trib story reminds folks that this isn't Luke's first lie to us:

This wasn't the first Ravenstahl denial to turn into an admission during his 6 1/2 months in office.

On Jan. 18, after denying it for months, he acknowledged that police handcuffed and detained him before a 2005 Steelers game at Heinz Field. He never was charged.

KDKA radio personality Marty Griffin really hammered into Luke on his two documented instances of lying, BUT as I said when I called into Marty's show this morning, there is a THIRD DOCUMENTED INSTANCE.

I have been meaning to comment on this March 8, 2007 story in the Pittsburgh City Paper (yeah, it's the one on Luke and his birth control issues). But forget about the birth control for a minute and concentrate on the LIE.

Luke was asked about a private conversation he had on that subject and he denied having one. However, when the City Paper tracked down the woman who had a private conversation with him (Mary Litman), here's the official response:

"There was no private conversation," he said. In a telephone call with City Paper two days after Ravenstahl was interviewed, Ravenstahl campaign manager Damon Andrews asserted that in fact, "The mayor recalls having spoken to" Litman. The private conversation the mayor was denying, Andrews says, was another conversation falsely rumored to have taken place at a 7th Ward meeting.

Right! I wasn't lying because I was talking about this conversation, not that one.

I wasn't lying because you asked me about a police incident on this date and it happened on that date.

I wasn't lying because you asked me about a Penguins trip, not a campaign trip.

It depends on what the meaning of "is" is. (Ooops, wrong politician.)

Jesus, what a liar! (And, a bad one at that.)