Author: politicalspy

Governor Ed Rendell has set a Special Election for the May 18th Primary Election Day to fill the unexpired term of the late Democratic Congressman John Murtha of Johnstown…Republicans and Democratic Party officials each will nominate a candidate for the May ballot to fill out the term…in addition to the election for the rest of Murtha’s term, voters will be asked to select Democratic and Republican candidates for the November election to a full term for the Congressional seat…if the Party leaders are good at their jobs, they will figure out a way to pick a candidate to fill the seat ’til January – a man or woman who stands a good chance of winning the Party Primaries on the same day…this is going to be very interesting…

Mary Beth Buchanan – former U. S. Attorney for Pennsylvania’s Western District – has filed papers to run as a Republican against incumbent Democratic CongressmanJason Altmire…she has yet to make a formal announcement…three others – Bob Klein, Keith Rothfus and John Vinsick – already have announced intentions to seek the Republican nomination…

Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty holds a news conference this morning to announcehe is dropping out of the Democratic Primary for Governor and instead seek the Party nomination to succeed the retiring State Senate Floor Leader Bob Mellow…the Democratic contest for the gubernatorial nomination continues forward without formal Party endorsement…State Auditor General Jack Wagner won a majority of the endorsement votes but fell short of the required two-thirds of the votes for endorsement…more and more the race is looking like a struggle between Wagner and Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato…

Harrisburg Online is a publication of Greenlee Partners, LLC. (It tends to be conservative-leaning but provides good information.)

Trash Talk

One complaint that we hear from time to time is that poor neighborhoods often get the leftover trashcans from other neighborhoods.  One example taken earlier in the year (Kevin Acklin used this particular example in the second mayoral debate, back in October): a trashcan behind the Homewood-Brushton YMCA labeled “Bloomfield”.

Here’s a photo taken today:

Problem solved?  Glad to see that the mayor is still getting it done.

With three days to go, these are the reports that we have been hearing from the mayoral campaigns:

Dok Harris:

• Robocall from Franco
• Rally in Homewood
• Trick-or-treating in Squirrel Hill

When campaigns begin to sputter and hemorage support close to Election Day, this is the time when they often begin to engage in disgusting and illegal tactics.

Exhibit A:  At least one elderly woman was reportedly harassed at her door for telling a Coghill-canvasser that she was suppoorting Natalia Rudiak in the District 4 City Council race.  After telling the canvasser repeatedly that she would be supporting Natalia, the woman had to then ask the canvasser multiple times to leave her alone.  No–she wouldn’t take her sign down, no–there was nothing that the person could do to make her vote for Coghill, no–she didn’t care who else was supporting Anthony and “needed” her to vote for him, and “how many times do I have to ask you to leave?”

Also–suspiciously–nearly all Rudiak for Council signs disappeared from one section of Beechview the same night that the Coghill signs appeared.

According to the Trib piece about the hundreds of signs in Coghill’s own yard, he is in violation of city zoning laws.

It’s unclear exactly how much support a campaign should expect to be able to pick up in a district through intimidation and theft, but you may remember that we have a history of seeing desperate, illegal campaign tactics punished at the polls on Election Day.

If you are a Facebook user, you know that it was hard to avoid Obamamania on Facebook in the past year.  And you certainly can’t avoid Steelers super bowl fever on Facebook – there are hundreds of Steelers fan groups on Facebook.

Can Facebook play a roll in the Primary elections here in Pittsburgh?

Lets look at some of the candidates and rumored candidates for mayor and their Facebook groups:

Mayor

• Students for Ravenstahl - 256 members
• Young Republicans that Support Luke Ravenstahl – 90 members, doesn’t look like it has been updated since 2007
• I Like Luke: Re-elect Luke Ravenstahl, Pittsburgh’s Mayor – 92 members
• Is Mayor Luke Ravenstahl stupid, corrupt or both? – 9 members
• Patrick Dowd for Mayor of Pittsburgh - 366 members (On Jan 20, the group had 81 members)
• Students for Patrick Dowd – 132 members
• The UNOFFICIAL Doug Shield for Mayor of Pittsburgh Group – 222 members

City Council

• Brendan Schubert – 52 supporters
• Recall Tonya Payne from Pittsburgh City Council – 2 members
• Bill Peduto – 149 Supporters

Other Races

• Hugh McGough – 252 Supporters

Other Elected Officials on Facebook

• Don Walko – 17 Supporters
• Mike Doyle – 299 Supporters
• Bring Back Mike Veon – 7 members

Are there any others that we are missing?  Who would you like to see on Facebook? Do you support your favorite candidates by joining their facebook groups?

The Tribune-Review today gives a brief mention to the fact that our city’s redevelopment authority is under investigation by a federal grand jury:

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s office announced the probe. And that’s a hoot, considering there was no love lost between the mayor’s office and the URA during Pat Ford’s tenure at the latter. City Controller Michael Lamb previously said the URA gave mortgages to a developer on properties at double their assessed value. This could get interesting.

Thanks to the URA’s (and others’) mortgages to the aforementioned developer (read speculator), the Beechview neighborhood has massive vacancy in the heart of its business district. The politics of development in this city need to be brought into check and if it takes a federal investigation to do so, let’s go.

Just when you thought government couldn’t get any worse, news broke about the URA’s faulty contracting process. Not to worry, just three short weeks later, Mayor Ravenstahl is on the case. Don’t be fooled- just like every other great idea he’s had and made a big stink in the press about, this too will fall to the shadows the moment you look away.