Two Big Issues Before Pgh City Council

First up: Back to the issue of city police and domestic violence.

We published a copy of City Council President Doug Shields' bill (No. 2007-1797) on this issue here. Councilman Bill Peduto has been added as a sponsor of that bill, but he's also introduced amendments to it. Gloria Forouzan outlined the changes here as follows:

"...compel the Police Bureau to refer all allegations of domestic violence by officers to the independent Citizen Police Review Board."

"...bar the hiring or promotion of anyone subject to a PFA or criminal domestic violence investigation. "

"...force officers who are subjects of criminal domestic violence investigations or protection from abuse orders to "surrender all firearms, including their primary service weapon, immediately"

While the FOP has argued of the last measure that it "would be tantamount to taking away an officer's livelihood based on a mere accusation" it must be noted that this policy is 1) considered standard practice by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the U.S. Military and 2) that an intimate partner must convince a judge that there is a threat of eminent danger before a PFA is issued (far from the accusation at the October 18th public hearing that cops will lose their guns over "shouting matches").

Also as was mentioned by Jeanne Clark (Squirrel Hill Now) at that public hearing, it has been 114 days (on 10/18/07) since the Mayor and Police Chief had promoted three officers with histories of domestic abuse and not one concrete step has yet to be taken. She also held up a brochure released by the Mayor's Office on DV that appeared to be printed on an inkjet printer and she said was not widely distributed. She compared it to the large-format, four-color, professionally-printed Redd Up brochure (I will note here that, tellingly, the DV brochure was not plastered with Luke's images).

What also came out at that public hearing was that the police response was to give verbal accounts of new policy changes -- nothing in writing still at this late date!

An initial vote on the bill (and amendments) will be held on Wednesday, October 31st.

(Previous posts on this issue here.)

Second Issue: Gender Equity

City Council President Doug Shields introduced a bill today (No. 2007-1845) that would approve the release of a Request for Proposal (RFP) from the city for a "A Comprehensive Study of Positions within Pittsburgh City Government" (see draft version here and a previous post by Dayvoe on this here).

As stated in the RFP's introduction, the purpose of the study is "to include a focus on the general soundness of the current system and whether the system affords internal fairness and equity, without gender or other bias."

Both Barbara L. Trant, Director of Personnel & Civil Service Commission for the City, and Heather Arnet, Executive Director of the Women and Girls Foundation, spoke to Pittsburgh City Council today about the study.

It must be said that both Councilman Bodack and Councilman Motznik initially expressed doubts about the need for such a study with Bodack saying that he thought that the city's hiring and promotions system allowed "no room to exist" for gender inequities and Motznik saying that he wasn't ware of any problems.

Ms. Arnet said that it was an "economic development" issue as a majority of college graduates are women and that demonstrating that Pittsburgh cares about gender equity in pay is a plus for keeping and attracting female professionals.

Some interesting (or nauseating) facts came out during the discussion:

Nationally, women make 81 cents to the dollar as compared to males. Statewide it's 73 cents while it's only 70 cents in the city of Pittsburgh.

There are 3,440 city employees but, only 923 are female.

Councilwoman Twanda Carlisle was blown away by the last figure and offered to help in any way she could in her last months on Council.

Councilwoman Tonya Payne predicted that the study would also show a big disparity in terms of race regarding both hirings and salaries of City employees.

An initial vote on this bill will also be held on Wednesday, October 31st.

Now here's where YOU come in:

Please lobby City Council on both bills and the Mayor's office on Bill No. 2007-1797.

Again, I turn to one of Gloria's posts at The Pittsburgh Women's Blogging Society, this time for contact info:

Mayor's Office
Phone: 412-255-2626, Fax: 412-255-2687

Len Bodack, Jr.
len.bodack@city.pittsburgh.pa.us , Telephone: 412-255-2140, Fax: 412-255-2419

Twanda Carlisle
twanda.carlisle@city.pittsburgh.pa.us , Telephone: 412-255-2137, Fax: 412-255-8658

Dan Deasy
dan.deasy@city.pittsburgh.pa.us , Telephone: 412-255-8963, Fax: 412-255-2821

Darlene Harris
darlene.harris@city.pittsburgh.pa.us , Telephone: 412-255-2135, Fax: 412-255-2129

Jeff Koch
jeffrey.koch@city.pittsburgh.pa.us , Telephone: 412-255-2130, Fax: 412-255-8950

Jim Motznik
james.motznik@city.pittsburgh.pa.us , Telephone: 412-255-2131, Fax: 412-255-2821

Tonya Payne
tonya.payne@city.pittsburgh.pa.us , Telephone: 412-255-2134, Fax: 412-255-2821

Bill Peduto
bill.peduto@city.pittsburgh.pa.us , Telephone: 412-255-2133, Fax: 412-255-2821

Doug Shields
doug.shields@city.pittsburgh.pa.us , Phone: 412-255-8965, Fax: 412-255-2821

You can also join others in lobbying Council members in person on both pieces of legislation on Tuesday, October 30th at City Council at 9:00 AM.

UPDATE: Post-Gazette article: "Dispute over police with PFAs heats up"

We hear tell that in today's City Paper the Mayor more or less blames foot-dragging on the DV issue on the women themselves. We'll be picking up our copy soon.
.

Pgh City Council Vs. Pgh City Cats

Wednesday saw the Pittsburgh City Council take it's first vote on licensing cats (final vote Tuesday). While the Burghosphere is jumping with Councilwoman Twanda Carlisle's remarks on the evolution of feline behavior ("In 2007, cats are more aggressive than they used to be"), she was far from the only Councilor to, um, "distinguish" herself during the debate on the bill.

Councilman Jim Motznik painted himself as being primarily concerned with the safety and welfare of pet cats -- no mention as he had in the past of his own, personal concerns for the safety and welfare of his pet fish in his backyard koi pond. More amusing was his likening himself to former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani. At least he kept the comparison to "quality of life" issues and wasn't claiming to be "America's Councilman."

But, what I found to be most disturbing about Council's conversation wasn't Carlisle's evolutionary thesis or Motznik's Rudy pretensions, it was Councilman Len Bodack's arguments.

Bodack made it clear that he favored the bill and he indeed voted for it. However, he actively encouraged the segment of the cat owning population who keeps their cats indoors to IGNORE THE LAW FOR WHICH HE WAS VOTING.

Yep, he basically said that if you had indoor cats no one would be the wiser if you just didn't bother to license them.

What the hell kind of legislator votes for a law that he's telling people to break?

Oh yeah, one who the voters of his district wisely decided not to invite back.

What a jerk.

[sigh]

Major props to Councilwoman Darlene Harris for all the research that she did on the issue and for taking the sensible and humane position that the real problem is feral cats and the best solution is to have the City reinstate its program to trap, spay and return the cats which was dropped by Act 47.

If you read the MSM/blogs you may know that the vote this week was four in favor and four against with one abstention by Jeff Koch.

Koch will be voting on the bill next week. If, like me, you believe that cat licensing is not the way to go, please contact Koch at:

jeffrey.koch@city.pittsburgh.pa.us
Telephone: 412-255-2130
Fax: 412-255-8950

It's especially important to contact him if you live in Council District Three.

P.S. I hear Koch is a cat owner.

.

It's Official: It's Dowd!

From the Dowd Campaign:

For Immediate Release

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Board of Elections Certifies May 15th Dowd Victory

The Allegheny County Division of Elections today completed the preliminary certification process of May 15th primary results for Council District seven. Patrick Dowd's official margin of victory over incumbent Councilman Len Bodack, Jr. will stand at 91 votes (3133 votes Dowd, 3042 votes Bodack) , making Dowd the Democratic nominee for the seat in the November general election. Final certification occurs at the State level on June 4th.

"While we have remained confident in the certainty of our victory, I am pleased that the certified results reflect numbers our campaign has maintained. As I have said since Tuesday the 15th, I look forward to working with Councilman Bodack and every community organization to address the multitude of issues facing constituents," Patrick said. "I hope Councilman Bodack shares my belief that a smooth and orderly transition will best serve the neighborhoods he has represented for the last four years."

"I look forward to spending my summer reading, meeting with residents of Council District 7 and, most of all, listening," Patrick said.

##

According to last week's Post-Gazette, Len Bodack said he would wait until the final certification of the vote before deciding on any next step. He has five days from the certification to issue any challenge of the results.

Bodack still holding out for a recount

According to this Post-Gazette article by Rich Lord:

Pittsburgh Councilman Len Bodack said today that he will await official certification of the results of Tuesday's Democratic primary before deciding whether to concede or challenge results that, unofficially, show him losing to challenger Patrick Dowd by 81 votes.

The vote was extremely close so I'm not surprised. But, correct me if I'm wrong, wouldn't a recount on the new machines simply spit back out the same totals that they did on election night? I mean there is no real paper trail to examine, right?

Another Election Post-Mortem

I remember hearing this joke when I was in grad school: Vermont is a state that has ten months of winter and two months of bad sledding.

Not sure why that joke stuck in my head this morning as I was reading Rich Lord, but for some reason "Luke's in for some bad sledding." kept bouncing back and forth inside my rapidly balding cranium. He begins:

Armed with 96 percent of the Democratic primary vote, Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl comes to work today fortified by that strong showing at the polls.

But stripped of three council allies and facing an ambitious new controller, the mayor faces more uncertainty than at any time since his Sept. 1 ascent to office.

We all know the details by now. The P-G editorial board summed it up this way:

The winds of change blew through Pittsburgh City Council on election night and, with any luck, will help clear the air in city government. Three incumbents -- one under indictment and the other two backed by the party leadership -- were denied the Democratic nomination and will leave office at the end of the year.

And Lord quotes Peduto using that "Perfect storm" phrase again. ("Winds of change" "perfect storm" "bad sledding" - it's certainly raining weather metaphors today, isn't it?)

Anyway, Peduto goes on to describe the bad sledding facing Mayor Luke:

Mr. Peduto argued that the results represent "the transformation of Democratic politics" by a new infrastructure of progressive groups, campaign workers and candidates. Two of the ousted incumbents were endorsed by the Democratic Committee and the Allegheny County Labor Council, suggesting traditional power bases can't guarantee victory.

And Luke is no where but sitting on the traditional power base. Lord continues:

That's because a council that -- with the exception of Mr. Peduto -- has been mayor-friendly will get three independent voices. Mr. Kraus, particularly, has no debt to Mr. Ravenstahl, since mayoral pal and Redd Up Campaign Manager Kevin Quigley was campaigning for Mr. Koch on Tuesday.

On the other side of the Allegheny River, Jeremy Boren and Mike Wereschagin have a somewhat harsher, less diplomatically-put view:

Voters tossed a wrench into the city's Democratic machine Tuesday, rejecting three City Council incumbents, including two endorsed by the party committee.

"Not only did you change a third of council, but you had challengers win in three of the four races," said Moe Coleman, director emeritus of University of Pittsburgh's Institute of Politics and aide to then Pittsburgh Mayor Joseph Barr in the 1960s.

"I don't ever remember this happening before."

Democratic machine? What Democratic machine? Boren and Wereschagin get a choice nugget:

Bodack and Koch were the Democratic Party's endorsed candidates. Their loss shows the party apparatus needs to change its endorsement process or risk losing relevance, said Allegheny County Councilwoman Brenda Frazier. The Stanton Heights Democrat has won three elections without the party's backing.

"The old way of doing things certainly isn't working," said Frazier, 66, whose district stretches from the South Side to the North Side.

Frazier is quoted somewhat later:

As more candidates win without the party's backing, Frazier said, others will begin asking, "What good is it?"

If nothing else (and we know there was much more), that's possibly the most important long-term victory of the 15th. The old party aparatus suffered a shock.

It's no longer business as usual.

Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting...

Late Early Returns

The Burgh Report has been calling it for Bruce Kraus since right before 9:00 PM, and saying that Patrick Dowd may also squeek by.

Here's the numbers from the official County website:

MEMBER OF COUNCIL DISTRICT 3
(VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN ) 1
(WITH 25 OF 42 Districts COUNTED 59.52%)
JEFFREY S KOCH. . . . . . . . . 898 42.38
BRUCE A KRAUS . . . . . . . . . 1,214 57.29
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 7 .33

MEMBER OF COUNCIL DISTRICT 7
(VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN ) 1
(WITH 22 OF 47 Districts COUNTED 46.81%)
LEN BODACK . . . . . . . . . . 1,338 51.15
PATRICK DOWD . . . . . . . . . 1,273 48.66
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 5 .19
Total . . . . . . . . . 2,616

Another must read site is the Post-Gazette's Early Returns - live blogging!

I thought Dan Onorato's victory speech was quite gracious to challenger Rick Swartz. Dan claims he'll work with Rick in the future on public transit. If he actually does, it justifies Rick's entire campaign.

Sorry, but I don't have many kind things to say about Mayor Luke Ravenstah's victory speech. The P-G found him nervous, but my sis and I found him smug when he mentioned four times that he had won in March (The P-G seems to have heard, "You like me. You really, really like me," while we heard "Me, me, me, me").

Last Minute Nastiness from Tweedledum and Tweedledee

Tweedledum (Koch):

Councilman Jeff Koch's last minute flyer dubs his opponent, Bruce Kraus, a "liar" twice. Koch offers not one bit of proof or backup of any kind to justify that claim. Of course, Koch makes no mention of his illegal: T-shirts, campaign calls, and donations. Kraus' last flyer, on the other hand, offers a gracious thanks to his supporters.

Please vote for Bruce Kraus in Pittsburgh City Council District 3.




Tweedledee (Bodack):

Councilman Len Bodack delivers another despicable letter with the seal of our fair city. This one compares his opponent, Patrick Dowd, to Joe McCarthy and tries to paint him as a Republican. Lenny also tries to paint himself as a "progressive." Yes, the anti choice, anti gay candidate is the real progressive -- I think I just vomited a little in my mouth.

Please vote for Patrick Dowd in Pittsburgh City Council District 7.

See the Infamous Bodack Letter Here!

As I blogged here, the Len Bodack Campaign mailed out a letter in Pittsburgh City Council District 7 which branded his opponent, Patrick Dowd, a "LIAR." Furthermore, Councilman Bodack uses a "near exact replication of the Pittsburgh City seal" to do that dirty work. The letter also implies that the Pittsburgh Public School Teachers failed to endorse Dowd because they believe him to be a liar.

Here are .JPG files of the letter and envelope:





Here's a comparison of the official Seal of the City of Pittsburgh (left) and the seal that Bodack uses on the envelope and twice on the letter (right):

Official Seal Bodack Letter Seal

Despite the "seal" both the letter and envelope have the following printed on them "NOT PRINTED AT GOVERNMENT EXPENSE." I guess that's how you're supposed to figure out that the mailing is not officially coming from the City or Bodack's Council office -- that is if you somehow were not eagle-eyed enough to notice the differences in the seal being used. And, we all have the official seal memorized, right?

As I stated yesterday, Councilman Jeff Koch also mailed out a flyer (seemingly at the same time as Bodack's letter) which also brands his opponent, Bruce Kraus, as a "liar." I will try to have pictures of that flyer up today. I will also be posting some pictures of some dirty tricks reportedly done against the Kraus camp.

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.
.

Dowd Picks Up More Endorsements

Speaking of endorsements, in addition to receiving Democracy for Pittsburgh's nod this week, Patrick Dowd (running for City Council District 7) picked up three big endorsements from AFSCME District Council 84, New Pittsburgh Courier and the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.

Dowd has already received endorsements from:
Planned Parenthood Western PA Action Fund
PA League of Young Voters PAC
The Gertrude Stein Club
The Sierra Club
Steel City Stonewall Dems
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Candidate Website: http://www.dowdforpittsburgh.org

Don't Reward Bad Behavior

A big part of what makes Pittsburgh "America's Most Leavable City" is the arrogance, hubris, and feelings of entitlement of its leaders. In a One Party Town where the local Democratic Committee makes endorsements in primary votes (Hey, kids, did you know that Dem parties in other towns don't necessarily do this and let the voters have a real voice?), far too many of our elected officials seem to believe that they do not need to play by the rules and that they do not need to be accountable to their constituency.

So you have a Mayor who plasters his face and name on every flat surface in town, crashes private parties in his quest for further celebrity, and only tells the truth when the MSM catches up to his lies.

You have County Chief Executive Dan Onorato who believes that elections only serve to "distract" the public.

You have City Councilman Len BoDUCK Bodack who refuses all debates and tells his supporters that his challenger is "trying to take the food out of my kids' mouths."

You have City Councilwoman Twanda Carlisle who spends tens of thousands of dollars on a worthless report written by her mother's live-in friend and is under suspicion of funneling tens of thousands more dollars into her own pockets via payouts and kickbacks.

And, now you have City Councilman Jeff Koch whose campaign created T-shirts that were the exact same color as Public Works Dept. shirts that ended up on the backs of Public Works employees during work hours and whose own Campaign Treasurer was one of the workers wearing the shirt. (Not to mention that Koch has a history of not listening to the wants and needs of his district to the point of "telling an 80-year-old woman to 'sit down and shut up.'" at a community meeting.)

Don't reward their bad behavior and arrogance!

Let them know that they serve us -- not the other way around.

Let them know on May 15th.

(Yes, you can still vote AGAINST Luke Ravenstahl. The new machines make it easy to write in a vote. Write in "William Peduto" or "Pierogie" or "None of the above!")

These are your public officials -- don't encourage them -- don't give them any more of a stage for their silly antics:


Create Your Own PaloozaHead - Visit Lollapalooza.com
http://www.writeinbillpeduto.com


Create Your Own PaloozaHead - Visit Lollapalooza.com
http://www.citizensforswartz.com


Create Your Own PaloozaHead - Visit Lollapalooza.com
http://dowdforpittsburgh.org


Create Your Own PaloozaHead - Visit Lollapalooza.com
Rev. Ricky Burgess


Create Your Own PaloozaHead - Visit Lollapalooza.com
http://www.brucekraus.net .

Dan Onorato's Magic Act

No doubt, this time of year candidates running for office are bombarded with candidate questionnaires from all manner of community groups and PACs. Some may finding it a bit of a distraction, but along with forums and debates, these questionnaires are a good tool to use when groups make their endorsements -- and these same candidates aren't shy when it comes to touting who has endorsed them.

Occasionally, for whatever reason, a candidate will choose not to respond to a questionnaire, and more rarely, a candidate may choose not to respond to a particular question in a questionnaire leaving it blank.

What I haven't heard of before is a candidate disappearing both question and answer in a returned questionnaire as if the question had never been asked (or in hopes that no one would notice that it had been...).

But that is exactly what current Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato has done with the questionnaire submitted to him by the Steel City Stonewall Democrats (SCSD), a politically active GLBT (and friends) group.

You can see their questionnaire and candidate answers at http://www.steel-city.org.

If you scroll about 1/4 down the page, you can see Onorato's answers and see that a few questions are followed by "CANDIDATE DID NOT ANSWER QUESTION."

These questions include:

Discuss your thoughts on marriage equality for same-sex couples; while the position you seek may not directly affect this issue, it is important for us to understand your perspective.

CANDIDATE DID NOT ANSWER QUESTION

Over the past decade, government money has been used to promote “abstinence-only-until marriage” programs in schools. Even though same-sex couples still cannot legally marry in Pennsylvania, to qualify for government support, schools must teach that any sexual relationships outside of marriage is “likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects.” Do you support or oppose abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula?

CANDIDATE DID NOT ANSWER QUESTION

Discuss your thoughts on government's role in shaping school curricula for sex education. Do you have any thoughts on the formation of gay-straight student alliances within the public school systems?

CANDIDATE DID NOT ANSWER QUESTION

Another equality issue confronting our country is the issue of abortion. Please discuss your position on abortion and any thoughts you have on the current abortion debate.

CANDIDATE DID NOT ANSWER QUESTION

I asked SCSD's Political Director about the missing answers and it was explained that Onorato had not simply left a blank space, but had deleted the questions themselves.

Yes, some of the most relevant questions to a GLBT group had been disappeared into thin air like some cheap trick in a magic act.

Some may find that presumptuous or arrogant, but then again, perhaps it's in keeping with someone who believes that elections themselves are nothing more than distractions (see here for full quote).

The Steel City Stonewall Democrats have tried to contact Onorato about the missing Q&A's but as of this writing, have yet to hear back from him.

Then again, perhaps I'm being too hard on Dan. I should stop and consider the culture that he's in.

It's a political culture where an elected public official (Len Bodack) can refuse all debates and be overheard complaining to his supporters that his opponent (Patrick Dowd) is "trying to steal the food from my kids' mouths." And, where another officeholder (Ravenstahl) made an art form out of avoiding debates and who is running on the legacy of his predecessor after having kicked out most of the staff of that same predecessor.

It is so very Pittsburgh.

It is so very sad.

Unless you hold them accountable.


(You can see Dan's opponent's answers here and learn more about Rick Swartz here).

Thursday Morning Massacre: The Movie

With discussion of the Thursday Morning Massacre taking on a cinematic bent -- and because we like flogging a dead horse -- we're certain that it won't be long until the Pittsburgh Film Office starts lobbying for the inevitable movie to be made here in the Burgh.

Wanting to keep in tune with Pittsburgh's new hi-tech rep, we've turned to myheritage.com's face recognition technology to cast the film.

Just keep in mind: My Heritage is the same website that claimed that Wendy Bell looks like Pamela Lee Anderson and that I look like Keira Knightley with my glasses off and Samuel L. Jackson with my glasses on.

(I'm only the messenger! Do not try this at home! Your results may vary!)

Thursday Morning Massacre: The Movie (as cast by myheritage.com)

Starring:

Josh Hartnett as
Mayor Bob O'Connor
And:

Meatloaf as Dennis Regan	John Cage as George Specter	Harold Ramis as Scott Kunka
Julia Roberts as B.J. Leber	Patricia Arquette as Susan Malie	Albert Finney as Paul Leger

With:

Dick Skrinjar as
himself

Jean-Paul Belmondo as Jim Ferlo	Colin Farrell as Yarone Zober
Sharon Stone as Marlene Cassidy	Adam Carolla as Fr. Terry O'Connor	David Letterman as Jon Delano
Tom Hanks as Doug Shields	David Hasselhoff as Jim Motznik	Dean Cain as Luke Ravenstahl

And:

Zach Braff as Bill Peduto	Missy Elliott as Tonya Payne	Beyonce Knowles as Twanda Carlisle
Jim Carrey as Len Bodak	Gael Garcia Bernal as Dan Deasy	Brad Pitt as Jeff Koch