Murky indeed

We join with Infinonymous and Early Returns in urging you to read this post -- if you haven't already -- by new blogger SteelCityMud at 3MurkyRivers that as Infy puts it details "the thicket of scandal that appears to involve everything (and everyone) associated with the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority."

We also offer our condolences to the family and friends of Kimberly, Brenna and Makaela Griffith and Mary Saflin. (WTAE: Victims Of Violent Flash Flood in Highland Park Remembered)
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Pittsburgh City Council Races -- It's getting really ugly out there!

First, if you haven't already, you should read this article by Joe Smydo in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. In it, incumbents Darlene Harris and Bruce Kraus allege that there's been mayoral interference and "improper use of city resources" in this year's primary races. Harris notes that street paving and pothole filling has been delayed and that PWSA workers have been seen removing her campaign signs. Kraus brings up "Ravenstahl's decision to hold up a $100,000 study of problems in the South Side entertainment district" and that "the administration allowed city police Chief Nate Harper last week to address a meeting organized by one of the councilman's opponents, Jeff Koch, a city public works supervisor who's backed by the mayor." There's also the matter of a stop sign on Pius St. that was disallowed before the race, but suddenly appeared when Koch contacted his public works colleagues.

So what's the latest?

First, from the Lucille Prater-Holliday campaign:

11th Hour Trickery Clouds Race in District 9

With two days until the Election Day, and the campaign of Lucille Prater-Holliday gaining momentum, illegal campaign tactics are apparently being used to cloud the campaign.

A series of outgoing calls have apparently been made with the return number masked so that it appeared as if the calls were made from the Prater-Holliday campaign office.

Multiple calls are going out to the same individuals. Anyone who received a call that may have contained inaccurate or offensive information is asked to contact the campaign office at 412-259-3866.

A police report has been filed.

We are asking the campaigns of Phyllis Copeland-Mitchell and Ricky Burgess to repudiate any illegal or deceptive campaign tactics that are being used to harm the campaign of Ms. Prater-Holliday, and to let the campaign know if they have any information about the calls.

Then there's this -- Darlene Harris' campaign headquarters were vandalized:





(Click to enlarge)
Hmmm, what does this remind me of? The accompanying press release also says that items have been thrown at Harris' personal vehicle while she was driving at night.

Lastly, the previously mentioned P-G article notes that Lil Mayor Luke's buddies Koch, Tony Ceoffe (running against Patrick Dowd), Vince Pallus (running against Harris), and Ricky Burgess (running against the world) have all made allegations of improper campaign financing. Now, these charges have been looked into repeatedly by Chris Potter at the Pittsburgh City Paper (here, here, and here) and found wanting. You can also read Bill Peduto's detailed explanation of the city's campaign finance reform law here*. It's worth noting that the biggest critic of how others follow this law -- the Rev. Ricky Burgess -- wants to scrap it altogether.

Not surprisingly, Jeff Koch has come out with a new flyer that mostly slams Bruce Kraus on the false allegations of failing to follow the campaign finance law:





(Click to enlarge)
We already addressed the raise increase and redecoration "issues" here. And, Kraus is not "fighting bars." He's trying to get businesses and residents to exist in harmony for which, as noted above, Koch's buddy, the Mayor, is holding up money to do.

*Note: I posted that piece at Reform Pittsburgh Now.
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PWSA: Erroneous water bills aren't the only problem

You may have caught the story repeated many times on the local TV news about 13,000 customers of Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority (PWSA) receiving bills with a couple of extra zeros added to the total.

The stories identified the problem resulting from a California based company using a European protocol (commas instead of decimals) which meant that a $45.00 bill would end up being a $4,500 bill.

What the TV news stories -- at least the ones I'm seeing on WTAE -- neglected to add was that the Cali company outsources PWSA's billing to Malaysia.

Huh?

Why the fuck does my water bill have to go half way round the world?

A tip of the hat to Chris Briem who tweeted the Malaysia connection which he found in the Trib's coverage.

Surely Burghers could have been found to do PWSA's billings who had never even heard of using commas instead of decimal points...

UPDATE: KDKA and WPXI broadcasts also leave out the Malaysian connection.
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Dowd: PWSA's problem bond could lead to a $3,800 liability for each customer (including me!)

[First, Early Return Dudes, I'm still playing catch up. This is my non-paying gig and the stuff I posted early this AM was from last night. Besides, I have some plumber dudes filling in a $9,000 hole in my basement today and I have my own problems with PWSA and I'm just a mere 22 callers on hold away from speaking to them.]

The folks at the Post-Gazette are right. This is important:

First, Dowd. The mayoral challenger, whose campaign is all about sober-minded fiscal responsibility, spent the weekend poring over 2,000-plus pages of financial documents on a squirrelly water and sewer authority bond deal, and came up with some explosive findings -- that the city agency recklessly entered a no-bid financial deal, overseen by Ravenstahl's own finance director, that is costing ratepayers at least $2.6 million a year.

Dowd was wrong, the water authority's director responded at a press conference called later by Ravenstahl's office -- it is actually costing city residents $2.9 million. "To attempt to politicize this issue at the expense of ratepayers is unfortunate," Ravenstahl said, accusing Mr. Dowd of releasing "some sensitive information" on the deal.

Read all the ugliness here.

(Will there ever come a time when I see the term SWAP and don't feel like running for the hills?)
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I guess it wasn't a threat -- it was a promise

So let's see:

1) Pittsburgh City Councilor Bruce Kraus said that Lil Mayor Luke Ravenstahl threatened him (that Council's staff salaries would be cut if Council cut the number of take-home cars):

Councilman Bruce Kraus said the legislation to cut staff salaries mirrors threats made directly to him by Mr. Ravenstahl at a fundraising event last week. The mayor's office has opposed legislation to cut take-home cars, and Mr. Kraus said that was the context of the threat.

"His exact words to me were, 'We're coming after you,'" Mr. Kraus said. "I said, 'If you feel that best serves the interests of the people of Pittsburgh, to cripple city council, have at it.'"

Mr. Kraus added that the mayor specifically threatened to cut council staff salaries, and said, "'And there's more where that came from.'"

2) Councilor Jim Motznik denied that there was a threat:

Mr. Motznik, who hosted the fundraiser Mr. Kraus attended, said he heard the conversation. "The mayor simply said that Act 47 is a work in progress, and it's a financial road map," Mr. Motznik said. "He didn't threaten him."

3) Kraus challenged Motznik's recollection of the events:

"Jim Motznik was nowhere near that conversation," said Mr. Kraus. "That's a bold-faced lie."

4) Ravenstahl verified that he spoke to Kraus but denied there was a threat:

"The notion that a threat was made is ridiculous," said Mr. Ravenstahl. "I suggested that if council took the position that they saw Act 47 as an authorizing document, rather than a financial roadmap, that they should look at themselves.

"It certainly wasn't a threat, and to suggest that it was I think is unfortunate."

and:

"If they feel that Act 47 is a binding document, then they, themselves, should live by that. ... Don't throw stones when you live in a glass house, and that's what they've been doing."

5) Council did vote to approve Councilor Burgess' legislation to reduce take-home cars:

It calls on the mayor to reduce the number of employees with take-home cars from 59 to 29, a number drawn from the Act 47 recovery plan approved by council and then-mayor Tom Murphy in 2004.

6) And, then mayoral ally Motznik proposed legislation to cut Council's budget for their staff; and to strip $150,000 from what he termed a Council "slush fund" (assisted by Ravenstahl Finance Director Scott Kunka); and Councilor Dan Deasy proposed "an amendment to disallow mileage reimbursements for elected city officials, which includes the nine council members, the controller, and the mayor, who doesn't need the benefit because he is chauffeured in a city vehicle."

6) So, Lil Mayor Luke was right: it wasn't a threat. It was a promise. (And, this is one promise where Luke lived up to his word.)

Others in the Burghospere on this topic:

- http://burghreport.blogspot.com/2008/03/kraus-ravenstahl-threatened-me.html
- http://pghcomet.blogspot.com/2008/03/we-knew-it-would-come-to-this.html
- http://theburghblog.com/2008/03/25/war-what-is-it-good-for
- http://burghreport.blogspot.com/2008/03/ravenstahl-threatens-kraus-drama-ensues.html
- http://pistgazette.blogspot.com/2008/03/mayor-sends-hit-man-motznik-to-break.html
- http://macyapper.blogspot.com/2008/03/branding-asshole.html

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On a side note:

During the flame war in Council Chambers yesterday, someone (Burgess? Kraus? Dowd?) mentioned that appointments by the Mayor to authority boards were handed out as rewards to Councilors who played ball with the Administration. I guess that's in perpetuity because lookie, lookie who's still on the board of Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority:

Len Bodack ( http://www.pgh2o.com/board.htm )

As an emailer wrote:

"Given that Len Bodack Jr. is no longer an elected official...and was appointed to the board as such, Bodack should have been stripped of his PWSA appointment when he left council.

151.10 APPOINTMENT OF CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS TO MUNICIPAL AUTHORITY BOARDS.
(a) Council members appointed by the Mayor to authority boards pursuant to Chapter 220 shall be deemed to serve ex officio, i.e. by virtue of their office.
(b) Upon termination of office by any Council member for whatever reason, the appointment to an authority board shall also be deemed terminated and the Council member shall take such steps as may be necessary to relinquish his or her seat on an authority board.
(Ord. 19-2002, § 1, eff. 6-4-02)

http://www.municode.com/resources/gateway.asp?pid=13525&sid=38

What's up with that?"
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