Author: committeegrrl

Here is the press release from the 14th Ward Independent Democratic Club on their endorsements for the spring 2012 primary elections.  (We noticed they have a new website too – looking forward to following their new blog).

14^th WARD CLUB BACKS MURPHY FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL

Gainey Endorsed for State Representative

The 14^th Ward Independent Democratic Club has endorsed Patrick Murphy for Pennsylvania State Attorney General. At its annual endorsement meeting Sunday the club also selected Ed Gainey over incumbent Joe Preston as its choice to represent the 24^th District in the state House of Representatives.

Candidates spoke to club members and answered questions at the club’s meeting at the Schenley Park Ice Skating Rink. The Democratic primary election is set for Tuesday, April 24.

With more than 18,000 registered Democrats, the 14th Ward is the largest ward in Allegheny County and second largest in the state.  The Ward includes all or part of Squirrel Hill, Point Breeze, North Point Breeze, Regent Square, Park Place and Swisshelm Park.

The Club, which is not affiliated with the Democratic Committee of Allegheny County, is the oldest independent Democratic club in the country and has made annual candidate endorsements for more than 40 years.  Its endorsements are printed in a Voters Guide and mailed to likely Democratic voters in the ward.  The endorsements are also posted at the club’s website http://www.pgh14widc.org

The Club’s open endorsement process allows members to hear candidates present their positions before casting their votes for the office seekers that best match their values.

Here is the club’s full slate of endorsed candidates:

• US Congress - 14th District: Mike Doyle
• US Senate:  Bob Casey
• PA Attorney General: Patrick Murphy
• PA Auditor General:  Eugene DePasquale
• PA Treasurer:  Robert McCord
• PA Senate – 43rd District: Jay Costa
• PA House of Representatives:
• 23rd District: Dan Frankel
• 24th District: Edward Gainey
• 34th District: Paul Costa

Phipps conservatory is banning soda pop because it makes kids fat.  Here is the press release they sent out today.

Phipps Takes Firm Stand against Childhood Obesity and Boldly Eliminates Soda from its Cafe
Pittsburgh’s premier public garden “walks the walk” when it comes to healthy foods.

   Pittsburgh, Pa. – In a bold move, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens announced that as of Sept. 30, 2011, it will no longer sell soda in its café. This decision, made in the wake of the public garden’s involvement in First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign to curb childhood obesity, aligns perfectly with its mission, which encompasses concern for both people and the planet.
While soda turns a good profit, it does so at the expense of our children who, according to the Harvard School of Public Health, can take in about 150 calories and 10 teaspoons of sugar from just 12 ounces of cola. With childhood obesity rates on the rise—and one third of all children born in or after the year 2000 facing diabetes, while others will struggle with heart disease, high blood pressure,  cancer, and asthma according to Let’s Move!—Phipps saw an opportunity to make a difference by eliminating these unhealthy beverages from its café.
“Our mission at Phipps is to connect people to the important role that plants play in our lives and to promote environmentally-responsible lifestyles and practices,” says Phipps Executive Director Richard Piacentini. “The most important ways that people and plants interact is through the food we eat and the biggest impact on our health and the environment is made through the way that interaction is currently taking place. Our industrialized, factory farm food system and highly-processed products are destructive to the environment and our bodies, and disconnect us from nature. In this respect, promoting healthy and responsibly-produced foods is right up our alley and ties in seamlessly with all of our other greening efforts up to, and including, our construction of a living building.”
In addition to eliminating soda, and replacing it with refreshing drinks made with filtered seltzer water and freshly-squeezed fruit juice, and containing less than 40 calories, Café Phipps operates with visitor health in mind in other ways, too. Dedicated to offering meals for adults and children alike that are centered on fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and other minimally processed foods, Café Phipps does not offer the typical fried fare found at many attractions, but rather ingredients that were grown with care for the environment and contribute to the health of the community. Café Phipps’ commitment to sustainable practices has also led to its certification by the Green Restaurant Association in 2009.
Another expression of the organization’s commitment to healthy choices, Phipps will host two upcoming symposia: Let’s Move Pittsburgh: Leading the Way to Healthy Lifestyles for Children on Oct. 12, and Feeding the Spirit: Museums, Food and Community on Oct.13, 2011. Let’s Move Pittsburgh, a regional event made possible by Phipps, UPMC Health Plan and the Heinz Endowments, will bring change-makers together to discuss best practices for and barriers to making Southwestern Pa. one of the healthiest places in the nation for children to live. Similarly, Feeding the Spirit—a national symposium of the American Public Gardens Association; Association of African American Museums; Association of Children’s Museums; and the Center for the Future of Museums, an initiative of the American Association of Museums—will bring together food and policy experts with U.S. museum and public garden leaders to strategize and identify ways to tackle community food issues.
To learn more about Café Phipps and its mission, please visit www.phipps.conservatory.org. More information about Let’s Move Pittsburgh and Feeding the Spirit can also be found at www.letsmovepittsburgh.org and www.aam-us.org respectively.

ABOUT PHIPPS

Built by Henry W. Phipps in 1893 at the height of Pittsburgh’s industrial prowess, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens has evolved from the nation’s first teaching conservatory to a distinguished eco-champion among America’s 500 public gardens.

Phipps’ mission is to inspire and educate visitors with the beauty and importance of plants; to advance sustainability and worldwide biodiversity through action and research; and to celebrate its historic glasshouse.

Phipps is open daily from 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m.; Fridays until 10 p.m. Adults, $12; Seniors 62 and older and students with valid ID, $11; children 2-18, $9; children under 2, free.

For more information, call 412/622-6914 or visit phipps.conservatory.org.

Follow us on Twitter

Become a fan on Facebook
Watch “The Evolving Green Story of Phipps” on YouTube

 

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the CORO center in Pittsburgh is accepting Applications for the Fall class of “Running for Public Office: Emerging Leaders in Public Service”

Application Deadline is August 1, 2011.

Running For Public Office:Emerging Leaders in Public Service

Running for Public Office: Emerging Leaders in Public Service is an experiential learning program of the Coro Center for Civic Leadership. Standing for election to a public office is an important form of civic engagement and one of the highest forms of public service. The vision of Running for Public Office is to strengthen citizen participation in public elections and to increase the diversity and level of preparation of candidates running for office in Greater Pittsburgh.

Our goal is to recruit, select, engage and prepare highly motivated individuals to lead successful electoral campaigns in Greater Pittsburgh. The course is open to prospective candidates and campaign staff who are now contemplating running for office.

Coro does not seek to advance any particular ideology, political party or policy agenda. We strive to assemble a class of 20 participants that represents the diversity of Greater Pittsburgh in terms of race, gender, religion, political affiliation, neighborhood location and economic status.

Learn more and apply here.

Well – we have had a week to recover from election day – now time for follow up.  Here is the first Thank You email we have seen from a candidate.  Have you seen any other emails?  Anything else interesting post-election day.

Friends,

Thank you for your support and encouragement throughout our campaign
for Magisterial District Judge. Briget and I cannot fully express our appreciation.
Your support was not just in words– it was also in actions. You knocked
on doors, called friends and family, held informal fundraisers, and stood
by us every step of the way. We waged an aggressive and energetic
campaign that we can all be proud of. I congratulate Hugh McGough and I
know that he will do a fine job.

I don’t know what the future will bring, but I know that I
will always be in the fight to make Pittsburgh — the city we love– a
better place. For me, public service has always been about helping
people. Please know that I will continue to work tirelessly on
Pittsburgh City Council in my remaining months in office.
Representing the people of District 5 has been a privilege of a
lifetime and I am grateful for having the opportunity to serve.

Over the coming weeks, I hope to personally reach out to each of you to
thank you for your support and friendship.

Sincerely,

Doug Shields

info@shieldsforjudge.com

We have been working on updating a master list of candidates and endorsements for the May Primary and one of the things on the chart is Facebook profiles.  Here is a rundown of how the city council candidates stack up based on their facebook fans and friends.  Looks like Bruce Kraus is by far the most popular candidate on Facebook and who knew there were that many republicans in District 5.

City Council District 1

• Darlene Harris – only had a FB profile
• Vince Pallus = 248 Fans
• Bobby Wilson = 106 Fans

City Council District 3

• Bruce Kraus = 2407 Fans
• Jeff Koch = 54 Fans
• Jason Phillips = 256 Friends
• Gavin Robb = 68 Fans

City Council District 5

• Chris Zurawsky = 17 Fans
• Corey O’Connor =  220 Fans
• Josh Wanderer = 84 Fans

City Council District 7

• Patrick Dowd
• Tony Ceoffe Jr. = 135 Fans

City Council District 9

• Rev. Ricky Burgess = 121 Fans
• Phyllis Copeland-Mitchell = 1 Fan, 79 Friends
• Lucille Prater-Holliday = 93 Fans

The Fitzgerald campaign has released a second campaign commercial. This video also includes more footage of his children.

The Fitzgerald campaign has released its first television ad today.  The ad features more of Fitzgeralds kids than it does the candidate.  What do you think of the ad?

The press release is below the video

PITTSBURGH: Allegheny County Democratic Committee endorsed candidate Rich Fitzgerald launched the first television ad in the campaign forCounty Executive. The ad is scheduled to begin airing immediately on local television stations and features all eight of Fitzgerald’s children:  Jocelyn,Erin, Caroline, Tanner, Madeline, Louisa, Mara, and Jackson and focuses on Fitzgerald’s biography and his record of saving money.

“Rich Fitzgerald is an experienced leader with a record of saving taxpayers’ money and creating jobs,” said Campaign Manager Mike Mikus.  “As the first campaign to go on the air, we are confident that voters will embrace and respond to Rich’s plans to keep taxes low for our families and encourage business development in our region.”

The full commercial can be seen at www.youtube.com/votefitz and on the campaign website, www.voterichfitzgerald.com.

Text from the ad is listed below.

Jocelyn Fitzgerald:  My dad was born here.

Erin Fitzgerald:  My dad drove a taxi to pay his way through Carnegie Mellon.

Louisa Fitzgerald:  He started an innovative company helping businesses save energy.

Caroline Fitzgerald:  Save money.

Mara Fitzgerald:  And create jobs.

Rich Fitzgerald:  I know something about families.

Tanner Fitzgerald:  Tanner

Madeline Fitzgerald:  Madeline

Jackson Fitzgerald:  Jackson

Caroline Fitzgerald:  Caroline

Jocelyn Fitzgerald:  Jocelyn

Erin Fitzgerald:  Erin

Louisa Fitzgerald:  Louisa

Mara Fitzgerald:  Mara

Rich Fitzgerald: And business.  As County Council President, I cut waste, saving taxpayers millions. And as County Executive, I’ll work to keep our jobsand futures here.

The ad also highlights Fitzgerald’s small business, Aquenef, and his leadership as President of Allegheny County Council.

Since announcing his candidacy for Allegheny County’s highest elected office in late January, Fitzgerald has earned broad-based support throughoutAllegheny County from elected Democrats, community organizations, andlabor unions.  He has also earned more endorsements than any other candidate running for Chief Executive.

A life-long Pittsburgher, Rich Fitzgerald grew up in the city’s Bloomfieldneighborhood.  He graduated from Central Catholic High School and Carnegie Mellon University, where he earned a degree in mechanical engineering and minored in business.  Fitzgerald has owned and operated Aquenef Engineering, an Allegheny County-based small business, for the past 28 years.  He has been serving as a member of the Allegheny County Council since its inception in 2000 and as its president since 2004.  Rich and his wife Cathy live in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood with their eight children.

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From today’s Post-Gazette - Ravenstahl shakes up youth panel – Mayor Luke Ravenstahl continues to show his commitment to young Pittsburgh by talking about the Propel Pittsburgh commission.

This time the mayor is removing himself from the commission and making it smaller 15 people instead of 35.

While I would love to be excited about the Propel Pittsburgh commission actually meeting – this does look like some sort of PR attempt from the Mayor’s office.

The PG interviewed Anthony Smulski Jr. – former Vice Chair of the commission.

• “However, he said organizers repeatedly struggled to get all 35 members to a meeting, even though they applied for the slots, went through interviews and promised to serve.”
  • According to the City’s website – only 21 of the 35 spots were ever filled – the city lists 14 of those (10 of which were to be appointed by the mayor) as vacant.
• “In theory, it was a great idea,” Mr. Smulski said of the commission structure. “In practice, it was hard to execute.”Mr. Ravenstahl missed some meetings, too, he said.
• “Membership is limited to city residents, so Mr. Smulski, who moved from the North Side to the south suburbs, no longer is eligible.”

Also fascinating that the city still hasn’t updated the Propel Pittsburgh page on their website.

If we blog about it the mayor will talk about it… if only it were that easy.  But it is interesting to note that this announcement comes just a few weeks after a blog post about the Propel Pittsburgh commission was posted on a Pitt Students blog – The Publius Foundation - here (Progress Pittsburgh linked to it here and the PG’s Early Returns linked to it here).

Also fun to note – Matt Hogue (the blogger formerly know as the Pittsburgh Hoagie) left the following comment on the post on The Publius Foundation:

Screenshots of Propel Pittsburgh Websites:

Another candidate has entered the race for City Council district 7, the seat currently held by Patrick Dowd. Here is David Calfo’s campaign announcement.

Image via Wikipedia

…we’re going to need a better ad than this.

In case you missed this one in the shuffle of all of the political commercials last week.  Here is the ad for Dan Connolly – who was not able to beat Tim Murphy for the 18th Congressional seat.

Who do you think should run against Tim Murphy in 2 years that could win the seat?

…what logos would be on their cars?
Here is a graphic from the folks at MapLight showing the top contributors to Congressman Doyle

After looking at Mike Doyle’s contributions – take a look at Jason Altmire’s contributions.
Mike Doyle has received $729,458 dollars in the past 2 years. Jason Altmire received over 3 times that amount.

Friday, August 27^th

Pittsburg, PA

Venue: Frick Park,  Beechwood Blvd, Pittsburgh, PA 15206

Directions at: http://www.pittsburghparks.org/frick-directions

Rain: In the event of rain, this event will be held on Saturday, August 28^th

7:00 PM: Doors Open

7:30 PM: Live Music

8:15 PM: Film Begins

9:30 PM: Q&A with Director Josh Fox and Local Organizations

There is no admission charge for this show. For more information, please visit:http://www.rooftopfilms.com/2010/schedule/57-gasland-pittsburgh-pa

(more…)

Just got an email from Joanna Doven – the press secretary for the mayor of Pittsburgh.

Is the Mayor’s Office ready for this kind of technology

Here is an email about this new technology but no link to the new Facebook page?  This email also came in just the text format – not the usual fancy HTML email that press releases are usually sent in.

Subject: City of Pittsburgh’s Facebook Page is Officially Published

The City of Pittsburgh’s Facebook Page is officially published. Become a fan now and help to promote the page!

Search City of Pittsburgh – we are identified as a government organization. We have a picture of the City with a banner which includes a City seal.

The City will be posting information on City related events, programs and general good news. We would be happy to consider posting positive information related to your group or organization. Just send me an email!

Building off of our plan to further utilize social media, a new City website which promotes more two-way interaction between government and citizens will be launched this summer. A sneak peak on the new format isavailable on the Facebook page. Stay tuned!

Thank you,

Joanna

(more…)

One of the things discussed over election night beers and post-election day cups of coffee today – was which candidates ran good campaigns.  You can have the best candidate in the world but a bad campaign will ruin their chances of election.

Good campaign staff can be hard to find – long hours and low pay means there is a lot of turn over in staffing – the good campaign staff often moves onto other projects and campaigns often reinvent the wheel.

Democratic Gain is essentially a professional organization of democratic campaign staff.  Democratic Gain runs trainings and has a website full of helpful campaign information they also have a job bank for campaigns to find staff and campaign staff to find jobs. (more…)

A week before election day and Dan Onorato has sent around a Facebook invite to his election night party which invites guests to “Come Celebrate with Dan as we make a big step in bringing real reform to Harrisburg! ”

Thus far 55 people have RSVPed yes for the event.

Looks like the Onorato campaing is confident about election day. (more…)