What'd I miss?

So according to the Trump press conference:

Trump: "I did not pee on those women, unnamed Russian teen sex workers."

He has no business dealings with Russia (despite what his son has publicly said in the past).

His bromance with Putin continues unabated.

He has almost no debt. (lolololol forever)

Some business attorney he hired who spoke today is somehow the best, most classy, bigly Constitutional expert on emoluments ever!

He's doing nothing that real ethics experts consider to be enough to wall himself off from his business (Uday & Qusay will manage them and never breath a word about it to Daddy).

CNN is "fake news."

He doubled down on crying that he's living in Nazi Germany because people are mean to him.

He's replacing Obamacare one hour after it is repealed...

And, because "Hillary, Hillary Hillary, DNC, DNC, DNC"

What'd I miss?

Darlene Harris: Keeper of Public Plaques

Reporter Bob Mayor to Pittsburgh City Councilor Darlene Harris, upon learning she was securing an unauthorized $2,000 plaque labeled "Ravenstahl" after the last mayor in her office, "You're not the Keeper of Public Plaques, right?"

What is it with Lil Former Mayor Lukey's administration? Taking home his city-owned desktop computer before leaving office because he was afraid the Peduto administration would move in and hide it?! Hiding plaques named after him because there was fear that it would be taken away and destroyed?!

It's like they were preparing for an invasion by a herd of thundering barbarians instead of a normal change in administration. The paranoia runs deep with this one. Or perhaps just projection...

Anyone want to guess what the next bizarre revelation regarding Lukey's departure will be?

Ravenstahl: Knee-deep, waist-deep...

 ...Or up to his eyeballs in it?

Paying attention to the men behind the curtain

You're all reading Rich Lord's three-part series on "The Network" in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, right? (Part 1, Part 2, Illustration of who's who)

If you haven't yet, LEAVE THIS BLOG IMMEDIATELY AND CLICK ON THE LINKS ABOVE.

It's the Theory of Everything on how Pittsburgh works -- or in some cases -- works badly.

It explains how and why things get done in this city because it follows the money. For example:

In March 2008, an official who has since left the city sent Mr. Grattan a list of more than four dozen people who had done business with, or sought to do business with, or asked for help from the city or its agencies. Among them were Mr. Ferchill, several other developers, engineers, architects, contractors, and sports team executives.

Asked whether he was aware of the transmission of the list, Mr. Ravenstahl said, "I don't know what you're talking about, so I don't know."

The mayor held several political fundraisers in 2008, including one in May and a November event headlined by former President Bill Clinton. Two days before the latter event, the mayor's campaign paid Mr. Grattan $9,500, according to its filings with the Allegheny County Elections Division, for "travel & event deposit." Filings indicate that Mr. Grattan later reimbursed the campaign $6,300.

Between the date the list was sent to Mr. Grattan, and 2008's end, the mayor's campaign got checks tied to 30 of the people on the list -- usually directly from them, other times from their business associates, businesses, or political action committees to which they were connected. Members of Mr. Ferchill's firm, for instance, donated $5,000 to Mr. Ravenstahl's campaign at a May 2008 fundraiser, adding to the $8,000 that firm members gave his campaign in 2006.

The mayor's receipt of contributions from more than half of the people on the list is "a very powerful statement of the power of campaign contributions," said Barry Kauffman, executive director of Common Cause PA, a watchdog group which has pushed for years for statewide campaign contribution limits. "In an ideal world, that should never occur."

[snip]

"Decisions aren't made to benefit Pittsburgh," Mr. Peduto said, "but instead [based on] how to make contractors into contributors, and contributors into contractors."

The only funny bit in this tragedy so far? The players' reactions -- those who actually did respond -- to the idea of The Network:

"Define for me who would be involved out of the Foerster era," said former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Stephen A. Zappala Sr., whose brother, Charles, has been involved with finance, development and energy savings companies. "I was part of [the Foerster administration], but I left the administration, and went on the Supreme Court in 1982. ... I'm kind of lost. I don't know what you would mean as far as impact."

[snip]

Charles Zappala declined to be interviewed, saying reporting on a network and its history "makes no sense to me."

[snip]

Asked about Mr. Verbanac's role with his administration, Mr. Ravenstahl said the reporter was "confused, and I'm not going to participate in your pursuit of something that doesn't exist. I'm insulted by it, to be honest with you.

What's actually lost, confused and making no sense in all this is the ideal of Good Government.

I can't wait for part three.
.

Corbett: Campaigning on the Public's Dime?

As the Onorato Campaign asks: "What's wrong with this picture?"


Via Brian Herman, Onorato's Campaign Communications Director:

This photo was taken within the last few days at the Bradford County Fair in Troy, PA. We see what looks like a taxpayer-funded table with a banner displaying the official seal and government website of the Office of the Attorney General. On top of that table is a stack of forms from the Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection - a service paid for by our tax dollars.

No problem so far.

But there's more... On top of that same table is promotional literature and buttons for Tom Corbett's campaign for Governor.

So, it's inappropriate for an elected official to use resources from their taxpayer-funded government office to promote their campaign.

And, yet, that seems to be what Tom Corbett is doing in this photo.

Sometimes reality interferes with a politician's rhetoric. And sometimes the evidence is just too plain to ignore.

Oopsie!

And, Corbett's response via PA2010:

Any mingling of politics and official business, however remote, is a delicate subject for Corbett, who has made his name prosecuting legislative corruption in Harrisburg through the so-called Bonusgate investigation. In that scandal, government employees were convicted, and others still stand accused, of doing campaign work on the taxpayer’s dime.

Nils Frederiksen, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office, said the materials were placed on the table before staff from the office arrived. They were immediately removed when noticed, he said. He was unsure who placed the campaign literature on the table.

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WTF? Orie Sib Works For...PA AG Corbett?

The Ories: Jane, Judith, Jack, Joan & Janine, but no Jerry...
We just assumed that all the Orie siblings turned up earlier this week to show their support for PA state Sen. Jane Orie (R) and Janine Orie who face criminal charges stemming from allegedly campaigning for their sister, Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin, on the public's dime.

Turns out there's at least one more Orie sibling: Jerome A. Orie. He was a no show at the above presser -- guess he couldn't get off work.

Speaking of which, you'll never guess where Jerry works (OK, you will if you read the headline).

He's a deputy attorney at the Attorney General's Insurance Fraud Section.

Yeah, that would be Tom Corbett's office.

The same Tom Corbett who is a Republican prosecuting Democrats for the same types of charges that the Orie sisters are facing -- but not facing from PA AG Tom Corbett -- even though complaints were brought to him.

As Michael Morrill from Keystone Progress notes:

Why is no one reporting on the fact that Jerry Orie, the brother of Republican State Senator Jane Orie and Republican Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin, works for Republican Attorney General Tom Corbett?

[snip]

Corbett is being accused of selective prosecution for not investigating Jane Orie's use of her Senate staff for her sister's 2009 campaign for Supreme Court. Corbett is running for governor this year, largely on the basis of his record in prosecuting mostly Democrats for using their staffs for political campaigns.

[snip]

We're not suggesting that there's a connection, but I'm surprised that this Orie relationship to Corbett hasn't been reported in any stories related to this issue. At least none that we've seen.

I certainly don't remember hearing about this connection which is interesting to say the least.

However, it appears that at least one news source has mentioned it: The Pennsylvania Independent. Eric Boehm reported yesterday:

Prior to her elected career, Sen. Orie worked as an assistant district attorney in Allegheny County and as a deputy state attorney general. Sen. Orie's siblings include Justice Orie-Melvin, Jack Orie, a former assistant DA in Allegheny County, and Jerry Orie, a deputy attorney general in the Insurance Fraud Section.

Neither Sen. Orie's personal history, nor the fact that her brother is employed by the Office of the Attorney General had any bearing on the office's decision not to handle the investigation, said Kevin Harley, a spokesman for the Attorney General's office.

By the time the Attorney General's office became aware of the investigation, the Allegheny County DA was fully involved, and despite having concurrent jurisdiction in the case, it would be unusual for the Attorney General to get involved, said Mr. Harley.

Alrighty then!

We certainly know that the Office of the Attorney General would never do anything partisan or less than transparent. And, it's not like any other Orie could be facing any other charges down the line.

(Looks like we need to add someone to our blogroll.)

Massey Energy: Hundreds of Safety Violations; Thousands of Environmental Violations

Even their logo looks hellish.
Most of you have already heard that a devastating blast at the Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia has killed 25 workers with 4 workers still missing.

It's the worst U.S. mining disaster since 1984.

The mine is owned by Massey Energy and is run by its subsidiary Performance Coal Company which according to an AP article in the Post-Gazette has "a history of violations for not properly ventilating highly combustible methane gas."

That article further states:

In the past year, federal inspectors fined the company more than $382,000 for repeated serious violations involving its ventilation plan and equipment at Upper Big Branch. The violations also cover failing to follow the plan, allowing combustible coal dust to pile up, and having improper firefighting equipment.

The New York Times has more:

Federal records indicate that the Upper Big Branch mine has recorded an injury rate worse than the national average for similar operations for at least six of the past 10 years. The records also show that the mine had 458 violations in 2009, with a total of $897,325 in safety penalties assessed against it last year. It has paid $168,393 in safety penalties.

“Massey’s commitment to safety has long been questioned in the coalfields,” said Tony Oppegard, a lawyer and mine safety advocate from Kentucky.

Those concerns, he said, were heightened in 2006 when an internal memo written by Mr. Blankenship became public. In the memo, Mr. Blankenship instructed the company’s underground mine superintendents to place coal production first.

“This memo is necessary only because we seem not to understand that the coal pays the bills,” he wrote.

With that kind of attitude on worker safety, it shouldn't be at all surprising that Massey and company CEO Don Blankenship are equally cavalier with the public's safety.

According to Wikipedia:

In early 2008, the company agreed to a $20 million settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency‎ (EPA) to resolve thousands of violations of the Clean Water Act for routinely polluting waterways in Kentucky and West Virginia with coal slurry and wastewater. Although this was the largest Clean Water Act settlement, the violations were estimated to have fines on the order of $2.4 billion. Over 700 miles of rivers and streams in the coalfields have been buried by the waste rock left over from mountaintop removal, a method of strip mining coal which requires the blowing up of mountain tops, removing from 500 to 800 feet (240 m) of mountaintop in the process. This method of coal mining has created some of the worst environmental disasters in the Mississippi area in regards to the poisoning of waterways, the flooding of local communities, and the destruction of the biodiversity of the Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

In October 2000, a Massey Energy subsidiary in Martin County, Kentucky accidentally released 306 million gallons of coal slurry waste from an impoundment into two mountain streams, Coldwater Creek and Wolf Creek (see photo right). The Martin County sludge spill was called the worst ever environmental disaster in the southeastern United States by the EPA. The spill smothered all aquatic life in the streams and left residents with contaminated drinking water. Cleanup costs for the spill were approximately $50 million.

Blankenship has also personally made it known that business interests should come before any environmental considerations (via SourceWatch):

At a November 2008 meeting of the Tug Valley Mining Institute in West Virginia, Don Blankenship described environmental groups, along with Al Gore, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid, as "Totally wrong. Nonsense. Absolutely crazy." He referred to reporters at the Charleston Gazette, a paper that has published numerous articles about the environmental effects of coal, as "communists" and "atheists." He also argued that the international scope of greenhouse gas emissions makes it futile to reduce carbon emissions in the U.S., saying, "Its nonsensical, its idiotic... If Pelosi thinks that decreasing CO2 in this country is going to save the polar bears, she’s crazy. If CO2 emissions are going to kill the polar bears, it’s going to happen. What we do here [in the US] is not going to [do] it." Blankenship also declared that business interests should come before environmental issues, and he questioned the ability of the general public to understand anything beyond simple environmental concepts.

And, if all that wasn't bad enough, Blankenship also waged "a multi-million dollar advertising campaign...to elect a West Virginia Supreme Court judge to preside over cases his company had before the court may push the U.S. Supreme Court to act."

Via ABC News:

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens Tuesday called the case one of the most "extreme" of its kind that the high court has ever considered. The situation fit Justice Potter Stuart's infamous definition of obscenity, Stevens said, "I know it when I see it."

Here's Coal Boss Don Blankenship roughing up an ABC reporter in 2008:



Our condolences to the families of the workers killed in the blast, as well as all those harmed by Massey.
.

"The List"

Like yinz already didn't know there was one . . .

.

Five City Councilors Shirk Responsibilities and Rubber Stamp Mayor/Lamar

(Click graphic to view larger image)
Looks like I picked a bad day to watch the live Sotomayor hearings instead of the live City Council meeting.

[sigh]

Today, the majority of the City Council of Pittsburgh decided to deny the public the right to hear from nominees to the Planning Commission, the Zoning Board of Adjustment, the Historic Review Commission and the Shade Tree Commission.

Today, the majority of the City Council of Pittsburgh decided to deny the nominees the right to appear before the public.

Today, the majority of the City Council of Pittsburgh decided to themselves forgo interviewing twelve nominees for these boards.

Today, the majority of the City Council of Pittsburgh decided that "the mayor appoints and we approve."

Today, the majority of the City Council of Pittsburgh decided that if nominees already have enough votes to pass, there simply is no need for any real discussion or review.

Today, the majority of the City Council of Pittsburgh decided that their function was to serve as a rubber stamp for Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Lamar Advertising.

FOR SHAME

For those who haven't been paying attention: Lil Mayor Luke has lots of friends who give him lots of money -- Lamar Advertising being one of them. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Amid a reshuffling of city boards and commissions this week, the Ravenstahl administration dismissed the author of a Zoning Board opinion that blocked a controversial electronic billboard proposed for the city's Grant Street Transportation Center with the support of the administration.

Alice Mitinger, a lawyer with expertise in zoning issues who had been appointed to the Zoning Board of Adjustment by the late Mayor Bob O'Connor, was informed by the administration this week that she would not be named to another term. Ms. Mitinger wrote an opinion supporting a 2008 ruling, which was upheld yesterday, that denied a permit for Lamar Advertising to erect an electronic billboard on the transportation center.

The administration also chose not to reappoint David Toal, another board member, who had recused himself from the Lamar case because his firm had represented it on unrelated issues. Mayor Luke Ravenstahl did reappoint the third member of the board, Wrenna Watson, who wrote a dissenting opinion in support of the Lamar application.

This doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of the Lamar controversy which included free billboards for Lukey's election the Ravenstahl Redd Up campaign, major conflicts of interest, threats to Councilors' jobs, civil lawsuits against Councilors from Lamar, etc.

So while Council had voted unanimously on June 29th to interview each of the 21 nominees on the list that the mayor had sent over on June 22nd and had already interviewed nine of them, lame duck Councilor Jim Motznik introduced an amendment to the already partially enacted 6/29 bill to stop the interview process and simply vote up/down on the remaining twelve candidates.

It was clear during the hours of discussion that the minority of Council felt that the main purpose of the amendment was to deny the asking of tough questions of Wrenna Watson who was up for reappointment to the Zoning Board.

Motznik's amendment by substitution to stop the interview process passed by 5 to 4.

Motznik's twelve bills to rubber stamp the approval of the twelve remaining nominees passed by 5 to 4.

Oh yeah. It became apparent during the meeting that the Rubber Stamp Five didn't even know enough about one of the nominees to be able to attempt to pronounce his last name.

[sigh]

**************************************************************************

Statement by Franco "Dok" Harris about the Mayor’s "Closed-Door Appointment Processes":

As other local and state governments, throughout this great country embrace fair and open processes as well as clarity in all government dealings, the current Mayoral administration stands out by championing an opaque, “back-room deal” system of government. The Mayor has consistently shown questionable judgment when the people of Pittsburgh are not looking; I encourage him to try to win back the public trust by reversing this dangerous course of action and filling the positions in a clear, open, and transparent manner. The residents of this city deserve to see how their government’s decisions impact their daily lives. As Mayor, I am committed to establishing good government processes and ensuring that every Pittsburgher has the opportunity to be involved in the leadership of our great city.

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ABSOLUT CORRUPTION.

Whether they're pulling a Martha Stewart, or conspiring to subvert election laws, or ripping off their kids' school board, or outing a CIA agent, or practicing cronyism turned deadly, or hiring a bagman who in turn hires Mafia hit men, or lying to get us into an unjust war that kills tens of thousands, these guys are:

(Click on graphic for larger image)

NOTE: ABSOLUT vodka did not create or contribute to this material, and has not authorized or approved it.

Crossposted (and a Recommended Diary) at Daily KOS.

UPDATE: I promise that I'll eventually get around to putting up posters, T-shirts, etc., of this image at my store: New Retro T's! -- maybe this weekend (10/22 - 10/23). And, I'll change the seal for all those who requested that.

UPDATE 2: Absolut Corruption political cartoon appears in the News Section of LA Weekly:

http://www.laweekly.com/ink/05/50/image-absolut.php



technorati tag: absolut corruption