Not With a Bang, But A Wimper...

The P-G endorses Mayor Luke (or maybe just Yarone and the gang).

After describing Luke's two opponents, the P-G praises by the process of elimination:

Both Dok Harris and Kevin Acklin are informed, committed Pittsburghers. While they could have an impact as City Council members, it's hard to argue that either has a shot at winning the mayor's office and the ability to take charge of the city's $453 million budget and 3,500 employees.

That leaves the incumbent, with whom we have had our differences. After three years as mayor, he has yet to articulate a vision for the future. He does not have a reputation for working with the state legislative delegation. And he needs to put some distance between himself and the party machine, to generate independent thinking for Pittsburgh's growth and progress.

Even when they get around to praising Luke, it's obvious they're not exactly cheering for him:

Even so, Mr. Ravenstahl, 29, has shown growth in the job. Despite a bumpy start including a few ethical lapses after taking office upon the death of Bob O'Connor, the Summer Hill resident has proved that a smart staff can focus an administration on key priorities.

Ethical lapses like lying about being handcuffed at Heinz field, the Homeland Security SUV and stalking Tiger Woods - but I digress.

In any event, I guess Yarone should be happy with that last line. It's not Luke who's doing such an admirable job, so says the P-G, it's his staff. They continue the backhanded compliments to Luke and the real compliments to Yarone:

In this weak field of candidates, Luke Ravenstahl is the obvious choice on Nov. 3. Like any other officeholder, though, he should not view the job as an entitlement because other elections will bring more substantial opposition.

While his service as mayor remains a work in progress and his growth in office must continue, Mr. Ravenstahl has been well served by various aides in his administration, including a capable chief of staff. It is incumbent on the mayor to assemble more top talent on the city's behalf, for this is a pivotal time and nothing less than the future is at stake.

An endorsement is an endorsement, but I'm not sure Luke should be pleased with this one - that is, if he understands it at all.

A Free Speech Message To Luke Ravenstahl

(H/T to Pittgirl and Marty Levine)

Marty Levine sets the stage:

The city is facing the possibility of civil suits stemming from arrests and other police activity during the G-20. Criminal hearings involving accused protesters -- many of whom are students at Oakland universities -- are still pending.

And what does Mayor Luke do at "Off The Record"? Levine, again:

And according to several witnesses who contacted us after the fact, Ravenstahl used his moment on stage to send a message to ACLU state legal director Vic Walczak, who has sharply criticized the city's handling of G-20 protesters. According to multiple sources, Ravenstahl said something like this: "I heard we're going to face a free-speech lawsuit. Well, I have some free speech for you -- fuck you, Vic Walczak."

Pittgirl reacts:

My view is this, Lukey went too far. Actually, he didn’t just go too far, he saw the line, laughed at the line, erased the line, then got in his spaceship and zoomed to the planet Visuviusium six galaxies away and then kept the hell on going like a fleet of starfighters was on his ass. THAT’S how far he went.

The Mayor is SUCH A CLASSY GUY! How many weeks have passed since the tear gas? Since the rubber bullets and bean bags? And THIS is how the mayor jokes?

Hey, I got some free speech for you, Mr Mayor.

Are you there, Mr Mayor? Maybe Yarone can read it to you.

Fuck you, Luke.

My Afternoon With Doug Shields

A couple weeks ago, URA Executive Director Pat Ford resigned in an e-mail to Mayor Luke Ravenstal's Chief-of-Staff Yarone Zober. In this e-mail, he accused the Ravenstahl administration of a "culture of corruption" and political retaliation.

Ford's lawyer Lawrence Fischer elaborated (though without specifics):

[P]olitical contributions to the mayor seem to be rewarded in the awards of contracts.

Ouch, resignations! Uh-oh, retailiations! Oooo, a whiff of corruption!

We all know what happened next:

Pittsburgh's Urban Redevelopment Authority settled today with Pat Ford, its former executive director, by agreeing to pay him approximately $90,000 in salary plus benefits to close out his employment contract nearly four months early, forego a potential lawsuit and end what had become a bitter public standoff.

And Ford's replacement? Take a look:

"We like people who get things done, and Rob Stephany is one of those people," said URA Board Chairman Yarone Zober. "He's a man of vision, a man of integrity."

Wow - Yarone gets around, huh? I had no idea. In any event, today a friend of ours wasn't happy:

Pittsburgh Council President Doug Shields formally asked the U.S. Attorney and the state Attorney General to investigate city development affairs today, in the wake of yesterday's settlement between the Urban Redevelopment Authority and its former executive director, Pat Ford, who has broadly alleged deception, corruption and retaliation by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's administration.

The Trib had more details about the deal:

The Urban Redevelopment Authority agreed Thursday to pay former executive director Pat Ford about $100,900 in salary and benefits to go away quietly.

The city authority's five-member board of directors unanimously voted to give Ford his $117,875 a year salary and about $800 a month in health benefits through June 30, 2009, a deal that runs six months longer than Ford's request in his resignation letter.

In exchange, Ford would be legally bound by a "non-disparagement" agreement that prohibits him from publicly criticizing the URA or the city -- a theme of his Aug. 27 resignation letter in which he claimed the city's administration had "a culture of deception and corruption."

I got a few minutes this afternoon with Council President Shields. Needless to say he had a few things on his mind.

"Enough is enough," he said criticizing Ravenstahl for saying that the settlement was "protecting the public" while not actually saying what the mayor was protecting the public from. Shields guessed that the mayor's office "felt panicked" by Ford's resignation letter and questioned Ravenstahl's description of a "settlement of potential claims." What claims? he asked. Ravenstahl claimed that Ford's letter was a lie. If that's the case, then why the settlement? Shields asked rhetorically.

I devil advocated and asked about the eventual Ravenstahl counter: that it's all a political attack from someone running for mayor and that we should all see the attack through that filter. Shields reiterated he's not running for mayor and, in fact, is reluctant to even think about it. "There's only one guy running for mayor," he said so maybe the public should view his response through the filter that he's running for mayor.

"I think they just paid someone to go away," he said and that there are enough questions that someone has to investigate. While the City Council isn't an investigatory body, it can trigger an inquiry elsewhere, he said. Thus the letters to the State Attorney General Tom Corbett and the local US Attorney, Mary Beth Buchanan. Shields has every intention, he said, to meet with both Attorney General Corbett and USAttorney Buchanan. If the inquiries find nothing bad, he said, then fine. But then the questions will have been asked and answered. He said this is substantive.

"It's not about an SUV with BBQ sauce with charcoal dust" on it, he said.

He added that the people have a right to know what the mayor meant by "potential claims" when he says that the settlement was done to protect the city from those claims.

During our conversation, Shields got a phone call from his mother who suggested he quit his job and get a Starbucks franchise. He also said that if the mayor somehow got him the same deal as Ford (pay for the rest of the year plus an extra five months) he'd be more than happy to quit.

"Then the mayor can protect the public from me," he snarked.

UPDATE: Embarrassing (for me) spelling error has been fixed. Thanks, Gary.

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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I know we're supposed to let this go, but . . .

On election day Agent Ska published some photographs of Luke Ravenstahl and posse visiting a polling place.

While candidates may be allowed inside a polling place other than their own to act as a properly authorized poll watcher, no one is allowed to electioneer inside a polling place nor are any campaign materials (lit, T-shirts, buttons, etc.) allowed within a polling place.

Ska's pictures were mentioned at the Post-Gazette's Early Returns blog, she was interviewed on KDKA Radio and eventually the whole thing was basically fluffed off as not being significant (despite the fact that Ravenstahl had a few people with him and reportedly his wife had on campaign button).

However, Ska has posted an additional picture.

It shows Yarone Zober, Ravenstahl's chief of staff, inside the polling place with campaign materials in hand and according to Ska, handing out the lit.

Sorry, folks, but this is clearly illegal and Ska quotes the relevant statue here.

I've poll watched many times and while I've seen candidates inside the polling place, EVERYONE knows that you can't have any campaign materials on you and I've never observed either a candidate or anyone with them handing out campaign materialsinside the polls.

There have been many times when I've done double duty of handing out lit outside and frequently going in to check who's voted inside and each and every time before I've gone inside, I've followed the law and hid my campaign T-shirt, taken off buttons/stickers and shoved any campaign lit inside a purse, bag or coat. This is just what you have to do when you poll watch.

Yarone was breaking the law.

PERIOD.

It should be even more distressing when you realize that Zober is a city official and his salary is paid for by the public.
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A Strange Phone Call

When I was away in CT, I got a strange phone call. The setting of the phone call is not important, but the WHO and the WHY are incredibly important.

The Ravenstahl campaign called me this past week - to see if I'd be willing to (if my memory serves me correctly) volunteer with handing out literature in an upcoming parade.

Me. They called me. To volunteer for them.

Don't they read this blog?

Or this one?

Or the Early Returns page at the P-G?

Sheesh.

By the way, I was at the QED debate tonight as was, of course, the mayor himself. With him, in a rumpled suit a half-size to large and in dire need of a pressing, was Yarone Zober. I contemplated seeing if I could get snubbed by the mayor AGAIN or at least introducing myself to Yarone as "The guy Luke brushed off at the TAE debate" but I decided against both as Yarone seemed to be already flustered by either Luke's lackluster performance at the debate or the close proximity to DeSantis' campaign staff.

Or maybe both.

All-in-all I thought DeSantis did a better job (with one obvious flub) than young Luke. While the mayor, his ad libbed lines all well rehearsed, breezed through some questions seemingly oblivious to the question asked (for instance, when asked about what he did before he was mayor to help the African-American community in this city, Luke's answer was all about reminding the folks at home what he did after he was mayor to help out that community), he had an annoying habit of not following up on offered rebuttals. It struck me, as someone put it, that once he was off his talking points, he had nothing to say.

Not a good thing for a mayoral candidate.

What did he know and when did he know it?

I'm trying to get this all straight here.

According to an article in today's Post-Gazette, the agreement which the City signed to get the funds to purchase the Yukon SUV that Lil Mayor Luke used as his personal party mobile stated that:

...all equipment bought with the $59,942 grant "shall be used for only the purposes set forth" in two documents called the Buffer Zone Plans and the Vulnerability Reduction Purchase Plan.

However, we the public cannot know what those exact purposes were because Mayor Luke Ravenstahl is citing national security as an excuse not to release requested portions of the document or even say what was in them (thanks for asking P-G, now sue him for the info!).

Well, how very Bush Administration of him!

Anyone want to guess the likelihood that the agreement stated that one of the "purposes" of the equipment purchased (SUV) was to be a "conveyance for BBQ sauce and charcoal for the purposes of tailgating activities"?

I think not.

But it gets worse.

According to the P-G:

The agreement was signed in March 2006 by then-director for intergovernmental affairs Dennis Regan, who is no longer with the city, and witnessed by Yarone Zober, who is now chief of staff.

So, wait. You're telling me that Lukey's BFF Yarone and his former BFF Denny knew that the grant put a limited use on all equipment but they not only forgot to tell Lukey, they let him drive around in the anti-terrorist equipment?

Moreover, we know from Jon Delano's excellent report on KDKA that Police Chief Nate Harper apparently couldn't wait to get Lukey into the sweet, sweet ride even though he knew that it could not be used for personal recreational activities?

Looks like Sergeant Mona Wallace did use the chain of command to warn everyone from the very start that Lukey was not allowed to take the SUV for a his joyrides, but not only was she repeatedly ignored, she was reprimanded (later rescinded as they probably realized that another payout to a female whistleblower a la Commander Catherine McNeilly wouldn't fly).

Harper is certainly being used as the fall guy on this one, just as he was in the promotions of the police officers with a history of domestic violence, but:

Regan knew
Zober knew
Huss knew

...what are the chances that Lil Mayor Luke didn't know?

And, if Lil Mayor Luke somehow didn't know, what is it about our corrupt city government that no one can say no to anything that our Boy King wants?
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UPDATE: So now we see from The Burgh Report (who's been on this story like white on rice) that Yarone Zober who knew about the federal restrictions on the Yukon SUV actually rode around in it himself with Mayor Ravenstahl. Yarone Zober should be fired.
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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