Just a reminder

Just a reminder that I have been told countless times on this and other blogs that abortion is just not an issue in mayoral politics.

However, today we have both re-elected an anti-choice mayor and found out that our city will have to now revise (lessen) its policy regarding bubble/buffer zones around women's clinics. Something that both City Council and the Mayor's Office will have to work on.

Hmmm...I guess, sadly, I was right and you were wrong.

I'm giving up on politics...

...at least for the rest of today. (My teevee will now be tuned to shows with happy and satisfying endings rather than election results.)
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I have a question.

While we see that "UPMC drops tax credit bid" in exchange for its commitment to the Pittsburgh Promise and that they will continue contributing to the Pittsburgh Public Service Fund, I don't see where they state outright that they wouldn't decide to renege on promised Promise funds on their own if they ever end up having to pay taxes.

Did I miss that?

UPDATE: Bob Mayo has pointed me to the answer to my question. His post this morning is full of links including this one which is UPMC's own press release where it states quite clearly that in the event that UPMC is ever taxed, they will give themselves the option to reduce their promised Promise:

“While UPMC will continue to welcome any supportive resolutions from the City Council, none are necessary for our commitment to the Pittsburgh Promise to go forward,” said UPMC general counsel Robert Cindrich. “As has been reported, UPMC’s governing agreement with the Pittsburgh Foundation provides that in the unlikely event of future state legislation that would require UPMC to pay taxes to the City of Pittsburgh and/or the School District, UPMC has the option of taking a dollar for dollar reduction to its payment to the Promise. We believe that it is more important to move forward with the program than to worry about a hypothetical situation, which is highly unlikely to arise,” he added. [Emphasis added]

Thanks, Mr. Mayo!

So in other words, everything that was said by Charlie Robert Cindrich, chief legal counsel to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, in the contentious City Council meeting still stands: it's a gift with many strings. And, as either Shields or Peduto noted in that meeting, there was never a need for an actual written side agreement by the city, UPMC could always simply say that they would opt out if they wanted for whatever reason.

Of course doing it that way puts the onus on them instead of making it a law that they are merely following. Thus, Lil Mayor Luke Ravenstahl F'd up once again by making a big issue out of it by trying to ram it down Council's throats.

At least this time Lukey's latest cockup hurt his corporate masters instead of the public at large. Perhaps UPMC will think twice about their next celebrity golf gift for Lukey . . . Nah!
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More Strings!

It seems that each day brings a new revelation in the demands being made by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center from the city in return for their gift donation bribe to The Pittsburgh Promise for college scholarships for city public school grads.

We first learned this week that UPMC wanted a tax credit equal to any monies that they might give to The Pittsburgh Promise.

Today, it was revealed that they will stop making their $1.5 million annual payment to the city for general government.

Neither of these details were revealed in their original splashy press conference announcing their "gift" at the beginning of the month.

Now, 2 Political Junkies has learned that there are even more demands in the rider to UPMC's agreement and we present them exclusively to our readers. These include:

Any and all parking tickets incurred by UPMC vehicles shall be paid out of promised Pittsburgh Promise funds.

All City of Pittsburgh Library overdue book fines incurred by UPMC employees shall be paid out of promised Pittsburgh Promise funds.

The City of Pittsburgh will supply complimentary beverages and lite snacks to UPMC executives. (All brown M&Ms must be removed!)

At Thanksgiving, UPMC shall always be declared the winner of any wishbone pulling contest no matter the size of their respective piece.

12 de-thorned roses shall be delivered daily to the feet of UPMC President and Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey A. Romoff.

Any meeting between UPMC and the city shall take place in an all white room (White flowers. White tablecloths. White curtains. White candles. White couches. Low watt light bulbs.) Coffee to be stirred counterclockwise and 25 cases of Kabbalah water provided.

Any UPMC executive may refer to any elected city official as "Charlie" in a public meeting without being called out for being an arrogant, disrespectful dick.

Pittsburgh City Council members Shields, Peduto and Harris are expected to bulk at the additional requests while Councilman Jim Motznik has been seen helping Mayor Luke Ravenstahl sort through an industrial size bag of M&Ms removing offensively colored candies.

When contacted by 2pj about the other clauses in UPMC's rider, city Chief of Staff Yarone Zober said, "It would be unfortunate if the actions of a few council members have the effect of preventing the class of 2008, those [2,000] seniors, from participating in the Pittsburgh Promise . . . Hey, guys! How are those M&Ms coming?"


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UPMC: The Grinch Who Stole Pittsburgh Promise

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth."
- Robert Cindrich, chief legal counsel to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

Yeah, UPMC's legal rep actually said that to Pittsburgh City Council. Of course, it's looking like the gift horse is more of the Trojan variety, but it was better than what the Mayor's Office had to say at the Council meeting which was exactly nothing. No one bothered to show up from the Ravenstahl Administration today (after asking Council to fast track the bill).

City Solicitor George Specter was there as the Administration's counsel...or is that as Council's counsel...or...who the hell knows! Council President Doug Shields tried to nail Specter down on that point, as well as who exactly negotiated the UPMC Strings Attached Promise and when, but he didn't get any further with that inquiry either.

In addition to Councilman Bill Peduto's plea that Council cannot give a special right to an individual, corporation or non profit, lots of words were thrown around from various Council members describing the UPMC Strings Attached Promise. They included:

"backroom deal"

"side agreement"

"strings attached"

"pig in a poke"

"Trojan horse"

"spin"

IMHO, they all applied only too well.

The main point seems to be that UPMC wants to say that their giving a gift to another non profit (The Pittsburgh Promise) is the same thing as their paying taxes to the city. Or, to look at it from another angle, UPMC wants a right that no one else has: to designate exactly what their (possible future) taxes would pay for. Still another way to look at it is that UPMC is trying to stick the city with the bill for their "gift."

UPMC kept saying that they didn't want to pay twice -- as if a "gift" to a charity should somehow excuse them from paying local taxes. It doesn't for anyone else of course. Cindrich kept saying that they were not asking for a tax credit or deduction. However, he made it clear that if they were ever taxed, they would deduct the amount that they would have to pay in taxes from the amount that they had promised to The Promise.

Now, UPMC can reap much benefits from being able to say that they donated money to pay for secondary education for Pittsburgh public school kids -- makes a nice commercial, no? Compare that to simply having an extremely profitable behemoth merely paying their fair share to the city's tax base. Where's the glory in that?

Come to think of it though, they may be on to something. Can I give my federal tax bill payment to moveon.org instead of to Bush's War on Iraq? OK, OK, better not to even think about messing with the IRS. How about starting small? I demand that none of my city tax payments be used towards paying Clowncilman (and Luke's Best Boy) Jim Motznik's salary. I could live with that!

(Thankfully, the bill will be held until after a Public Hearing.)

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In Luke's Pittsburgh

In Lil Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's Pittsburgh, the corporation is always right and the citizens can be ignored (except when it's time to ask for their votes).

We have two recent examples of this.

The first is Luke acting like The One Hill CBA Coalition are little more than con artists trying to scam the city for cash. It's fine to abruptly walk out on them as they're speaking (if only they had given Lukey a free private jet ride and all-night party in NYC he might have taken them seriously as he does the Pittsburgh Penguins).

The second is Luke's Pittsburgh Promise (talk about a scam). Ravenstahl first announced the program to provide free secondary education to the city's public school residents one year ago and for a year the only funds for the "promise" was $10,000 from Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers.

Then at the beginning of this month, Ravenstahl announced jointly with UPMC that the local healthcare giant would fund a $100 million commitment to The Pittsburgh Promise. Both Luke and UPMC garnered much good will from the gesture.

But then comes the fine print: the monies are matching funds, not seed money. And, now we learn that the very profitable, nonprofit UPMC wants tax credits for their "donation" and Ravenstahl is ready to go to bat for them on that point.

If only Jane/John Q. Public could take Lukey golfing with celebrities for $9,000 a pop perhaps they too could have Luke looking out for their interests.

The Moral of This Story:

At this time of year, when you're trying to finish crossing off names on your gift list, you'd better not forget something for the Boy King Mayor or you'll be the one left with a lump of coal.

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