Author Archive

The Joe Hoeffel campaign announced today that they are joining Onorato and Williams on TV. Here’s the ad: It has taken a while for this race to really start getting wide attention.  With plenty of undecided voters still out there, the compressed timeline may serve to level the playing field.  If the other candidates are able...
Read more »

Image by AxsDeny via Flickr Anthony Williams launched an ad challenging Dan Onorato’s record on change.  The Onorato campaign has used this ad in 2 different fund raising emails this week.  The polls released today show Onorato way ahead of the other candidates in the race.   If Onorato is so far ahead of the other...
Read more »

If you have been folowing some of the reactions to the snow in Pittsburgh – Luke Ravenstahl’s name is mentioned in response to the snow clean up.  But today there is another question being asked about the mayor – Where’s Luke? It seems to have started with JanePitt around 11:30 this morning… At 12:30 @andybotpgh posted...
Read more »

And its no surprise that PA still needs some major ethics reform.  Yesterday’s Post-Gazette had a story about a Pittsburgh based lobbyist, Leslie Merrill McCombs,  being fined by the State Ethics Commission for lobbying Ed Rendell for Lionsgate Films.  (Film rep fined over lobbying of Rendell, Post-Gazette 9/9/09).  That name sounded familiar – McCombs...
Read more »

Image via Wikipedia check out this report from Maplight.org Money Received Near Votes Interest groups supporting or opposing a bill gave these contributions to Jason Altmire within 3 days of his vote on that bill: Table lists the last vote on each bill in this legislator’s chamber, excluding motions to reconsider. Contributions Contributor Interest Group of contributor Position of orgs in interest...
Read more »

This just in from the Harris Campaign… Harris Mayoral Campaign Raises over $105,000 - Says fundraising total shows vast support for campaign Mayoral candidate Franco “Dok” Harris today announced that he has raised over $105,000 from over 200 individuals to date. Harris is the only candidate who is employing campaign contribution limits, which are modeled after the...
Read more »

The break is over – you have had 2 weeks to rest since the May primary election and it looks like the candidates are starting their engines for the race to the November elections.  Kevin Acklin is holding a campaign kickoff evene t tomorrow at the Pittsburgh center for the arts.  So we thought...
Read more »

Image by Steve Wampler via Flickr Democratic Mayoral Candidate and City Council Member Patrick Dowd Puts a Price Tag on Ravenstahl Administration’s Wasteful Government Spending Following up on last week’s “Wake Up Call” to voters, Democratic Mayoral candidate Patrick Dowd will put a preliminary price tag on the administration’s waste and mismanagement.   ”This is only the tip...
Read more »

Looks like Chris Potter was on to something last week when he wrote about Dok Harris.  The website HarrisForPittsburgh.com is now live with quite a bit of content. From an email sent this morning…. Harris for Pittsburgh Franco “Dok” Harris Running for Mayor of Pittsburgh March 09, 2009 10:00am Franco “Dok” Harris, 29, has announced his candidacy for...
Read more »

Yesterday Bram at the Pittsburgh Comet wrote a post about Twitter – so we decieded to see what else people were saying about local politics on twitter.  A quick search and we learned about LukeForMayor.com. Check out this tweet, from a guy in North Carolina -  looks like Luke Ravenstahl has a new campaign website http://lukeformayor.com.    The...
Read more »

The Steel-City Stonewall Democrats are the first group to announce their endorsement slate for the May 2009 Primary elections. h/t Post-Gazette and Chris Schultz STRONGLY ENDORSED CANDIDATES Pennsylvania Supreme Court Teresa Sarmina – http://www.sarmina09.com/ Pennsylvania Superior Court Ann Lazarus – http://www.lazarusforsuperiorcourt.org/ Kevin McCarthy Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Barbara Behrend Ernsberger Allegheny Court of Common Pleas Hugh Fitzpatrick McGough – http://www.mcgough4judge.com/, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hugh-McGough/43836122521 Allegheny County Sheriff Bill Mullen Allegheny County Council District...
Read more »

Image via Wikipedia The press release from Luke Ravenstahl’s office that was posted here yesterday caught my eye.  I have been following the idea of LED street lights since I first read about New York City switching to LED street lights in the November 2008 issue of Wired Magazine. Given the discussion this week around Luke’s...
Read more »

Image by Getty Images via Daylife From Agent Ska   I received the following email from the Duquesne Democrats.  “…The second opportunity available is something *name* pointed out to me earlier this week and that is a few unpaid internships within the mayors office: “The campaign is looking for several hard-working, and self-motivated unpaid interns for this semester. Though...
Read more »

This looks like it could be a very interesting event: Join us on January 29th to exchange ideas one-on-one with members of Pittsburgh City Council. All Members of City Council are confirmed. Where: The Rivers Club, Downtown Time: 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM Cost: $20 (Includes lunch) Seating is LIMITED, early RSVP to danielle@lpinc.org by January 22nd.
Read more »

An article in yesterday’s Tribune-Review states that Raventahl expects a challenge from City Council President Doug Shields in the 2009 mayor’s race. When Shields denied the claim, Ravenstahl seems to use that denial as a way to discredit the councilman. Additionally, another potential motivation for the mayor’s announcement is the hope of a crowded...
Read more »