May 12, 2007

Ugly Bodack Campaign Lit Making the Rounds

I don't live in Pittsburgh City Councilman Len "My Opponet's Trying to Take the Food Out of My Kids' Mouths" Bodack's district (7), but I had heard from a friend that some misleading and ugly campaign literature was dropped to voters yesterday from the Bodack folks.

Today, I received a press release from the Patrick Dowd campaign referring to this lit drop. It says that the literature in question calls Dowd a "liar." But what's worse is that it apparently uses a "near exact replication of the Pittsburgh City seal" to do that dirty work. Of course, it would be illegal to use the actual seal in this manner.

Here's the press release:


For Immediate Release:

Council District 7 Debate Saga Approaches Final Chapter

Saturday, May 12, 2007 After receiving a scurrilous letter yesterday from Councilman Bodack that uses a near exact replication of the Pittsburgh City seal to dub Patrick Dowd “a liar,” the Dowd campaign delivered an automated phone message earlier this afternoon with the following text:

“Hello, this is Patrick Dowd, Democrat for City Council. My opponent, Lenny Bodack, Jr., has refused to be caught in public in any situation where he could be asked tough questions about his wasting of our tax dollars. About why he paid one ward chairman 28 thousand dollars for services that are almost entirely undocumented. About why he’s ducking the “Right to Know” laws and refusing to release information about his spending. Instead, he’s hiding behind mean spirited letters, accusing me of attacking his staff, and calling me names. My criticisms are not personal attacks. I am asking questions about public information and public dollars. He has avoided answering those questions time and again.

In fairness to Lenny I’m offering him one more chance to come clean, to debate the issues in front of voters and the television cameras so that everyone can see it. Here’s the invitation: Tomorrow night at 4326 Butler Street - in the heart of Lawrenceville - at 7 PM. Everyone is invited to join the television crews and me to see if he’ll show up. This is Patrick Dowd, Democrat for City Council.”

Patrick Dowd is open to taking an alternate location for tomorrow’s debate into consideration.
I will be posting later today on a piece of campaign lit which was mailed to me by the Jeff Koch campaign which also brands their opponent, Bruce Kraus, a "liar." No proof of any lies is offered in that literature. Do Bodack and Koch do their homework together or just copy off each others' papers?

We'll also get into the firing of yet another whistleblower -- this time in connection with the Koch campaign. Don't they ever learn?

I am also working on getting a copy of the Bodack letter and will post it here when I receive it -- likely tomorrow.

Patrick Dowd: http://www.dowdforpittsburgh.org
Bruce Kraus: http://www.brucekraus.net


UPDATE: You can see a copy of the Bodack letter here.
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12 comments:

  1. My family moved here from Seattle. We ended up in a place already changed a lot since we got here, Lawrenceville(?) and it's cool. The local councilman has already helped my mom on a couple of key issues to her with zoning and a sticker for our van for her and some other stuff for my partner. Our councilman is that Bodack guy you are always complaining about. But I gotta tell you, we like him and he does have our vote! We'll take service over pretty boy anytime!!!

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  2. That's truly beautiful!

    You got what you or your mother wanted so who gives a flying fig if the man who gave it lies or is unethical or skirts the law?

    You got what you wanted so who cares at all that he feels he doesn't have to be accountable to other voters who would like to see the simplest request in a democracy -- having candidates debate.

    You got what you wanted so who cares that he feels so entitled to having his own job that he believes that merely having someone run against him is some kind of an affront and sin that is trying to "take the food out of his kids' mouths."

    That is a truly beautiful example of your own ethics. You are a real credit to your community and our City.

    Congratulations, Citizen.

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  3. Seriously, isn't helping constituents something that is EXPECTED of elected officials? Justin27 is praising Bodack for doing what Bodack was elected and expected to be doing--his job. And that's a big deal? Service over pretty boy? How about service AND ethics over Bodack?

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  4. There is nothing wrong with serving your constituents nor did I say that there was.

    There is also no reason to assume that Bodack is the only person that would hold that job who could give service to constituents in that district.

    justin27 calls Dowd a "pretty boy" but real ugliness is the unethical behavior and sense of entitlement of Len Bodack.

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. You can't honestly be taking that fairy tale seriously?

    Justin forgot to add that his mom and dad are both young professionals, that they're hot, and that Mark Roosevelt punched his puppy in the face.

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  7. I got the letter as well, the Councilman can use the letterhead from HIS office as long as it is not at the cost of the taxpayer. By law, he must respond to the "right to know" within five days of receiving the letter via certified mail, I read his response, that was given to Dowd 3 days after the request not five, and it urges the City Clerks office to expedite getting Dowd the information he requested. In this day of investigative reporting and the problems others are having I think it was a good "Political Tactic" for a desperate campiagn to draw lines here but if there were anything immoral, illegal, or unethical, about Bodacks spending it would be on every news station. Dowd's Mothers Day invitation to a debate is the last grasp of a whinning,accusatory, lying campaign to win at all costs. Lets just see if the voters are smart enough to see through that on election day. Happy Mothers Day

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  8. If you want to know more about the right-to-know law, see here. The law requires a response in the form of providing the records requested or a reason why those records are delayed (they have to be retrieved from storage, for instance). A rambling plagiarization of a political rom-com probably does not meet these criteria

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  9. Speaking of dirty campaigning, isn't Lenny the one who started it all when he called Dowd a "Jackass" for requesting a debate? Jeez... Lenny, you can't have it both ways.

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  10. Anonymous at 10:09 a.m.: Tony, you have got to get spell check. The word you are looking for here is "whining."

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  11. He called Dowd a jackass out of frustration with Patricks disgusting comments aimed at dividing a community for political purposes. And who is Dowd to be giving anyone chances at anything, he is a challenger in a council race. He holds no power here, maybe he talks to a troubled school girl at Ellis that way but not here.
    If he is not the liar Bodack says he is where is the proof of his accusations? Does Senator Ferlo support him as his literature states or is the three year old comment made by the Senator aimed at fooling the voter? If Dowd had proof that Bodack paid a family rent with City money it would be on the front cover of every paper in Pittsburgh. He's a liar, if you want to vote for a republicrat thats your call, have at it. Here's the deal,once you are caught in a lie all of your credibility is called into question.

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  12. "Liar Liar Pants on Fire" only shows your campaign is dire.

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