- Any other 6th or 9th warders out there looking forward to the trip to St. Mary’s Lyceum on Tuesday? - Is it just me or does Tonya Payne have the biggest campaign ads of any candidate in the city?
- Upon seeing one of those omnipresent “Ravenstahl Getting It Done” signs, has anyone else had the urge to knock on that person’s door and ask just exactly what Ravenstahl has gotten done for them?
- Is it hard to not read too much into the fact that the Bakery Square site has two of those signs?
- And does anyone else see a certain “pandering to the lowest common denominator” in the Ravenstahl camp blatantly co-opting the whole “Git ‘R Done” subculture?
- Is it wrong if I vote for Anthony “Tony” Ceoffe because the Lawrenceville United newsletter makes for a nice bi-monthly toilet reading? (Okay, that’s probably not a good idea)
- Is it wrong if I vote for Susan Evashavik DiLucente just because those “I’m choosin’ Judge Susan” signs are stuck in my head?
- Are there any political leanings I should know about when weighing the Allegheny County Bar Association judicial recommendations?
- Do newspaper endorsements carry weight to anyone other than newspaper editors and campaign managers?
- Wouldn’t it be interesting if some of the current City Council members issued endorsements of their own in this primary?
- Would Carmen Robinson’s efforts have been better-spent in the District 6 city council race?
- Wouldn’t it be nice to get some sign of involvement, some sign that apathy has not completely taken over this city?
- And wouldn’t it be nice if the indication that apathy has not won comes in the form of a plurality for Patrick Dowd?
- Is a there a percentage of votes that gives Dowd - win or lose - some kind of moral victory?
- And if Dowd doesn’t win, does a strong showing give him any added political clout on council or in the city?
- Why didn’t this get more pub, particularly from the Dowd camp? (***Update below***)
- In the Post-Gazette’s Twenty Questions for the Would-Be Mayor feature on Sunday, how many of Luke Ravenstahl’s answers could have been summed up with the response: “the status quo is fine”?
- How many people in this city think the status quo is fine?
- Isn’t it obvious that certain notions - like transparency in government and accountability for city officials - are good things?
- As a matter of fact, can anyone give one good reason why Luke Ravenstahl should be re-elected?
- If I put a picture of me and a picture of Luke Ravenstahl next to each other, do you think I could convince people that the Mayor endorses this blog?
- And from there, how many steps will it take to get my name on a garbage can?
- At the very least, could I get invited to Ravenstahl’s Election Night Party at Hofbrauhaus in the South Side Works (since I can’t get a table there otherwise)?
***Update*** - Just got an e-mail from the Dowd people. They sent out a media advisory about the call, but apparently the local press didn't really bite on it. Here's the text of the e-mail that was sent to the media:
An interactive telephone town hall where voters will have an opportunity to ask Democratic Mayoral Candidate Patrick Dowd questions about his reform vision for Pittsburgh.
Patrick Dowd will bring cutting-edge technology to his grassroots campaign for reform, reaching out to tens of thousands of Pittsburghers in the decisive final days before Tuesday’s primary, something that has not been done before in a mayoral primary. “This campaign for reform is about giving Pittsburghers a voice.” Dowd said. “My campaign is grassroots – not astroturf – so I don’t have millions to spend on TV commercials. Instead I’m trying to find new ways to bring people together so we can talk about how to reform Pittsburgh, whether it's answering a voter's final question before she heads to the polls or talking to someone for the first time. Together, we can bring change.”
Personally, I think it's a pretty cool idea. We'll see if it helps tomorrow.
7 comments:
Ummm... This may be really long but I'm going to respond to each of your queries in order (though I wish you'd number them next time) Ahem...
-Not a 69 warder.
-haven't noticed Ms. Payne at all actually.
-I called Luke Ravenstahl's 311 number twice and both times he "got it done" by 1) towing an abandoned car & 2) cleaning up all the graffiti tags on my Garage. He also changed his name to Steelerstahl once, don't forget that!
-ok
-hadn't noticed, but Ravenstahl loves that cable guy
-nope
-I'm choosin Judge Susan sounds like a highschool student council poster. I'm not voting for her just for that reason
-Not that I know of. My attorney wife says they pretty much just look at experience, and the fact that they are indeed lawyers. Like Diven has no law degree, how can he be qualified to be a judge.
-I listen to paper endorsements, especially when I know nothing about the candidates (and i really like Tony Norman)
-hmm... too risky politically. If they back the wrong horse it could bite them later
-I wish Robinson would have made a go at that council seat, though she wouldn't have had near the exposure this mayoral race has given her.
-yes
-hmmm... I met Dowd two weeks ago. He kind of seemed like a douchebag politician
-yep, 51%
-not really, he's just a career politician. He's going to go for the next biggest office he can get his hands on
-It would have been a good move
-8
-I think the election will give you that answer
-so are unicorns and the easter bunny, I wouldn't hold my breath nor expect anything different from the next guy
-ummm... I'd actually appreciate the debate, I'm just not sold on either Dowd or Robinson after hearing them speak at a forum a few weeks back. Ravenstahl appeared as the strongest candidate, based on his knowledge of the issues. I was surprised myself.
-yes
-5
-gotta make reservations, good beer
I'm slightly troubled by some of your responses, Heath, because it seems that you're leaning toward the incumbent. That bothers me and I hope it's not the case.
May I suggest reading this, this, and this little nugget:
"The largest last-minute contribution to Ravenstahl is $15,000 from three executives of The Forza Group, a real estate company that arranged to meet with city planning officials to discuss building at least one hotel in Pittsburgh."
I know that this kind of thing is pretty much expected from elected officials, particularly in a city like Pittsburgh. And there are no guarantees that the next Mayor won't do it too. But we know that this Mayor and his administration and his people do it, so let's at least try to get away from that kind of activity. Can't we at least try?
Last November, you bought into hope and change, two ideas that probably fit into the catgeory of "unicorns and the easter bunny, I wouldn't hold my breath nor expect anything different from the next guy". Now it's time to buy in on the local level.
I'm no fan of Ceoffe, but I wish Banahasky had actually, like, campaigned or something. I live about 5 doors away from her and I never got one door knock, never got one hang tag. I saw her two Saturdays before the election at about 11:30 am, dressed like she was heading for the gym. That is prime campaigning time right there, and she wasn't using it (at least, that's how it seemed to me).
I suppose she was counting on her network of friends or something. If that's true, that's a big mistake, given that there's probably nobody in Lawrenceville with a bigger network of friends than Ceoffe.
Ok, so this is totally late. And completely useless for the election that happened yesterday. But it's never too late to get some good information. The Allegheny County Bar Association has no political leaning. It is the professional association of all attorneys in the County. The committee that does the evaluation is elected by the members. They then spend an inordinate amount of time interviewing every single candidate before making a determination. Their evaluation is based on legal capabilities.
So you know, pretty trustworthy in my book. And no political leaning.
Ok, so this is totally late. And completely useless for the election that happened yesterday. But it's never too late to get some good information. The Allegheny County Bar Association has no political leaning. It is the professional association of all attorneys in the County. The committee that does the evaluation is elected by the members. They then spend an inordinate amount of time interviewing every single candidate before making a determination. Their evaluation is based on legal capabilities.
So you know, pretty trustworthy in my book. And no political leaning.
Thanks Marie. Even though it's after the election, I appreciate your input because then I can feel good about how I voted. I made a cheat sheet for myself that listed the four "Highly recommended" candidates, so I voted for them and added Judge Susan because I was choosin' Judge Susan.
Jerry,
I volunteered on Susan Banahasky's campaign, as she will confirm I put in long hours & effort on her behalf.
From mid February til the Sunday before the Primary Susan door knocked throughout the 6th & 9th wards. She made TWO complete rounds of door knocking. Perhaps she came to your door when you were out. She door knocked on Tues - Thurs, after work and all day on Saturday and Sunday. When she wasn't door knocking she was phoning voters. I am not sure what else she could've been expected to do.
Without question, she is the hardest working candidate I know, bar none.
You live just a few doors away from her, you could've knocked on her door and asked your questions directly. Or you could've talked to her when you saw her on the sidewalk.
She also raised money and used it to reach out to voters via 3 mailings during the campaign.
Susan most definitely did not rely on her network of friends, she worked to reach every voter and given the minimal resources her campaign had, she did an outstanding job.
Gloria Forouzan
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