"I just thought we needed to take a collective breath and enjoy some stability," said state Sen. Jim Ferlo, an early supporter of Mr. Ravenstahl.Spoken like a true Old Boy Back Room Pol who helps hold the strings that bind our puppet-like Mayor.
But the quote that truly blew my mind was this one by another puppet master, "The Boss":
"Maybe the city's in a position to look for some security and let things settle down a bit," said Mr. Onorato. "We don't have elections to distract us."God forbid the public should be distracted by a little thing like an election!
I'm trying hard to think of a context in which an elected public official in a DEMOCRACY could make a statement like that and it be acceptable.
[thinking]
Nope.
Can't think of a one.
What's even more distressing is the thought that said public official challenged the petitions of his only opponent in his own race this May (Rick Swartz). The very fact that Onorato's Boys thought that they should challenge Swartz, who is a first time politician with almost no name recognition, shows how desperately and cravenly the Old Guard claws to stay in power.
Perhaps when Onorato was speaking of what a "distraction" elections are, he was thinking of his own.
(Hush now. Go back to sleep. Don't let any nasty little elections disturb your sweet dreams.)
12 comments:
Ferlo has become that which he spent huge amounts of his youthful resources and energies fighting.
Many from that time also followed suit. Problem is, Ferlo's metamorphosis is particularly troubling because those he was railing against were arguably more amenable to the democratic process and less amenable to power grabs by the Commonwealth.
Shades of Animal Farm here. Pity...
Yes, it is a bit easier when they are bad from the start.
That Onorato quote was my caffine jolt this morning. Still have not come down off the ceiling. Its really official. We are all really witnessing the horrifying spectacle of The Machine brazenly and unapologeticly smothering anything remotely resembling democracy.
Have a nice day, comrades!
Ah, yes, The dreaded Machine. All bend to its mighty will. That explains how Jim Roddey was elected County Executive and how we wound up with Santorum in Washington, eh?
Don't you simple shits realize that with all the financial constraints on the city, being Mayor of Pittsburgh ain't a freakin' hill of beans anymore?
This is as bad as the Quinn-ites who spend their days gazing skyward for the black helicopters.
11:24 Anon - Yeah, because a county-wide/state-wide election is the same as a local election...simple sh...
Being mayor isn't as cool as being president. We all get that. Thanks for your brilliant insight.
Contrary to what people think, the mayor still has loads of flexibility in creating a budget and exercising discretion to direct money to the vultures of his choosing - ICA and Act 47 are interested in macro-management. Also, if you've been keeping up, neither oversight board has been doing much in the way of providing guidance or asserting objections to Luke's little missteps. I've been very disappointed in what appears to be their tremendous indifference - they should be weighing in on things like tax forgiveness, cost recovery, etc. MSM: Do they return your calls? Do you make the calls?
If it can't even influence a COUNTY election, it must not be a very powerful machine, eh, douchenozzle?
Bingo.
I too blogged about that quote.
By the way, Roddey is part of the machine. Roddey would NOT sign my petition to allow me onto the ballot in 2001. And, I was in his party. I was speaking out about the death of our second public TV station, WQEX 16. Roddey was a board member at QED and its mission was hell-bent on doing do-whop.
Roddey has been endorsing Onorato. If Roddey can't beat him, so he seems to say, then nobody should even try.
I should mail him a copy of my present nomination paper as I try to get signatures to get onto the ballot for November as a candidate for Allegheny County Executive (ACE). I'd like to know what he'd do now.
I did interact with him this past week as a caller to OnQ. :)
Oh. The challenge by Onorato against Swartz's right to be a candidate is despicable.
Roddey is in on it, too? Oh, sweet Moses, the machine plots thicken!
Come on , Anonymous is right. There are no machines. According to Onorato, God knows why we even have elections. It's all just a distraction. No need to worry your pretty little heads about any of it.
No, no, no, you silly staph-infected girl. There ARE machines. Lots of them, apparently, and they're all working against Bill Peduto. I'm sure Jim Roddey would be amused to know he's part of the machine. Our guy couldn't win (in part because he has all the appeal of wilted lettuce), so let's invent conspiracy theories. Honey, I look forward to the day you can get out more and maybe get a more realistic perspective. All this time homebound on the computer is making you batty.
Wow! Such brave (and extremely personal) comments from someone who, of course, wants to be anonymous themselves.
Do tell, do you also anonymously kick out the crutches from someone who's lame?
Of course, if you attacked the 'lame' you'd have to give yourself a swift kick in the behind.
"Douchenozzle" would be a great name for a band, dontcha think?
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