Delano's Follow-up

This evening, Jon Delano had a follow-up to his initial report about Mayor Ravenstahl and the Oakmont Country Club. You can see it here.

His reporting included something first blogged on here - that the non-Mayoral guests of American Express each paid $900 for the privilege of attending.

That $900 charge for the American Express' guests may come back to bite young Luke on the ass, in light of section 197.07 of the municipal code which states:

A public official, City employee or agent of the City shall not solicit or accept from an interested party, nor shall any interested party offer or give anything of value to a public official, City employee or agent of the city, subject to the following exceptions:

(a) Gifts from direct family members;
(b) A nonpecuniary award publicly presented, in recognition of public service;
(c) An occasional nonpecuniary gift of nominal value;
(d) Complimentary travel for official purposes;
(e) Admissions to charitable, civic, political or other public events;
(f) Admissions to cultural or athletic events not to exceed two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00) per calendar year in the aggregate and one hundred dollars ($100.00) per calendar year from any single person, agent or other interested party; or
(g) Complimentary meals and/or refreshments.

Seeing as by his own admission, he got in to the Oakmont Country Club, and seeing that for anyone else it would have cost $900 to be a guest, doncha think at the very least his actions should be investigated by the City's Ethics Board?

Now that there's possible ethics violations, it's not so petty, is it?

Luke Ravenstahl's Weasel Words

Yesterday on Fred Honsberger's radio show (transcript here), Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said this:

The Jon Delano story is inaccurate simply because I didn't force my way anywhere. I was at Oakmont on April 23rd. I did meet Tiger Woods. But his suggestion that I was asked to leave and not welcome is inaccurate and I really think that's the unfortunate part of the story and I'm not sure where it came from.

This got me thinking. Is that actually what Jon Delano said? That Luke "forced [his] way" into the Country Club? That he was asked to leave? That he was "not welcome" at the Oakmont?

Let's take a look at Delano's story.

[W]hen the mayor learned that Tiger Woods was out at Oakmont practicing, he had his office call the club to secure an invitation. The club told him politely, but firmly, that this was a private affair, and he was not invited. Nonetheless, the mayor got in his car, drove out, and tried to crash the club.

Sources say Ravenstahl was stopped by Oakmont’s security guards who told him the golf outing was a private event for American Express and its customers. But he talked his way into the club. [emphasis added]

I guess this depends on how you define "force."

And no where (and this is the big part) in the Delano piece is there any mention of the Mayor "was asked to leave."

Luke uses his invitation to lunch as evidence that he was welcome at the club:

[W]hen I walked in literally they invited me to sit down and have lunch. I think that shows you right there that I was welcome...

But Delano points out that he was invited for lunch - adding that the Tiger Woods event was private:

Once inside, Ravenstahl was recognized and invited to dine with members of the club’s board of directors where, once again, he was told the event with Tiger Woods was private and not open to him.

I mean, what were they (the Club's board of directors) supposed to do? Toss the mayor of the city of Pittsburgh out on his ear? Then there's Luke's weasel words:

[B]ut we were never told, at all, that we were not welcome on the grounds. [emphasis added]

Which is different, of course, from saying "we were not welcome at the party."

Looks like Luke knows he's done wrong and is trying to weasel out owning up to it.

Even If Luke's Right, He's Not Out Of The Woods

Let's assume for the sake of argument that Jon Delano is wrong and Luke is correct - and that that everything was completely cool when Luke showed up for the Tiger Woods party at Oakmont on April, 23.

If he's right, he might be in trouble, too. Because did you know that the 82 guests of the party paid $900 for to be there?

Take a look:

They were American Express card members who paid $900 for an event called "2007 U.S. Open Preview Day," not realizing that it would include more than a round of golf and free lunch until Woods entered the room from a back door to stunned silence, followed by high-fives and then a standing ovation.

So by his own admission, Luke Ravenstahl just shows up at the Oakmont Country Club and is given something what 82 other people paid nearly a thousand dollars for.

Isn't that some sort of ethics violation?