In the Spring, Tonya Payne (illegally) used a fake political committee, “Sensible Constituents of District 6,” to distribute some negative materials.  This Fall, she was at it again.  See below for a flyer that she passed out (again, illegally using another fake political committee — “Neighbors Against Dirty Politics”).

She also had the flyers below–which accuse City Councilmember Bill Peduto of racism–distributed in his district.

The Neighbors Against Dirty Politics also sent around the following email:

From: neighbors against dirty politics 2
Date: Sun, Nov 1, 2009 at 11:01 PM
Subject: IS TRUMP FINANCING LAVELLE?

IS TRUMP FINANCING LAVELLE?

Is Trump financing Robert Daniel Lavelle‘s campaign in District 6? No, not really,  but I am confused where Lavelle received his money to add “extra” bonuses to his campaign workers.  I know if I truly believe in a candidate I do not have to be paid!  Why would he have to pay 130 workers $100.00 each?  Why would he have to pay workers breakfast, lunch, and dinner?  Who paid for his Rent A Cars? Who paid for his color brochures?  Who paid for his postage?  Who paid for his color postcards? Who paid for his t-shirts? Who paid for his parties? Why did he not put these expenses on his campaign report? Why did he drop his first name and change his campaign name now to Daniel instead of Robert.  Wasn’t his father, Robert,  fired from The Dwelling House Bank and under FBI investigation?

The Post Gazette’s article stated

the following about the bank;

“it suffered a severe blow to its stability late last year when federal auditors discovered that about $3 million had been drained out of its capital account and the bank..  Pittsburgh police and FBI agents are investigating the case.”

“Former Dwelling House president and CEO Robert M. Lavelle, who was fired in November by order of the OTS, also was fined $5,000 last week for his role in the gross negligence that ultimately brought down the bank.”

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09227/991047-28.stm

Where is this money? Robert “Daniel” now flip flops his name so people will not put two and two together. Call him Daniel now, not Robert .Does he think we are stupid?  Is this where the money comes from for his campaign?   The apple does not fall far from the tree.  I would “write in” TonyaPayne, her workers do not have to be paid to campaign for her!

She does not change her name to hide. Our group Neighbors Against Dirty Politics are starting an official “write in” campaign for Tonya Payne!  When you go to the polls just go to the “write in”section and write her name in the spot.

ON NOVEMBER 3, 2009

ELECTION DAY

“Write In”
Tonya Payne
Don’t Write Her Off!

District 6 City Councilwoman

“Let justice remain in your district!”

“Keep her REAL name in your decisions.”

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
NEIGHBORS AGAINST DIRTY POLITICS

Finally, if you still have any question about who the “Neighbors Against Dirty Politics” actually are, there’s a facebook group called “URGENT!! WRITE IN Tonya Payne for City Council District 6″.  The administrator and creator of the page?  Tonya Payne.

Of course, this election is history.  So why does it matter?  Two reasons:

1. To date, Jim Burn, chair of the Allegheny County Democratic Committee, is turning a blind eye to the City Chair staging a campaign against the duly nominated Democratic nominee for office.
2. It’s really not clear what Tonya Payne was hoping to gain from these hijinks, but she is rumored to be preparing for a run against Jake Wheatley for State Representative next year.  Even her most staunch supporters must be turned off by her embarrassing behavior.

This first map (a reproduction from the last post) shows how Ravenstahl performed in this election versus how he performed in the 2007 general election.  In this map, basically,

• The bluer the district, the worse Ravenstahl did against Harris & Acklin than against DeSantis
• The redder the district, the better Ravenstahl did against Harris & Acklin than against DeSantis

• The bluer the district, the worse Ravenstahl did against Harris & Acklin than against Dowd & Robinson
• The redder the district, the better Ravenstahl did against Harris & Acklin than against Dowd & Robinson

Potter says that it doesn’t matter how much Luke won by, because it won’t force him to govern any differently.  I agree with Potter, in that I doubt that Luke will take heed for his rapid deterioration in support.  The administration will likely govern with just as much bravado as they always have.

I disagree that the results are completely irrelevant, however, because Luke has relied on his strong electoral support (in the past) to lend his capitol to other candidates.  We have already seen in this year’s primary that Ravenstahl has no coattails.  These results may be good news for Bruce Kraus and Patrick Dowd, who are both likely to see well-funded challengers whose best argument for election will be their close relationship with the mayor.  This may also give some political cover to Theresa Smith and Darlene Harris to act with more independence.

What is remarkable is the near-uniformity across the city where Luke’s support has decreased.  In the map below, I’ve shown the change in Luke’s win % from 2007 to 2009.  The more intense the blue, the greater the decrease; the more intense the red, the greater the increase.

Matt H has been called quite a few names from many around the burghosphere (including by me!)  Mostly, they centered around his role as the lone apologist for the mayor on the interwebs.  That’s why his endorsement slate is probably going to catch quite a few people by surprise:

Mayor, City of Pittsburgh: Kevin Acklin

There are going to be people coming out of the woodwork to say that this doesn’t matter, nobody listens to Matt, etc.  That would be missing the point as to the significance of this endorsement.  If people like Matt H are not voting for Luke this year, then his impenetrability might just be broken in neighborhoods that have been left behind–and have traditionally been the mayor’s strongholds.  Neighborhoods like Elliott, Carrick, Hazelwood, Beechview, Homewood, Sheraden, or Overbrook.

Chris Briem will have to tell me how the math works out, but in a low-turnout race, with three candidates, and no polling, what happens to Luke’s level of support?  If much of the anybody-but-Luke crowd, the almost-anybody-but-Luke crowd, and the registered Republicans vote for Acklin along with a sizable portion of the Democrats uber alles [for the sake of this post, let's call that the Matt H vote], then could the election be closer than conventional wisdom would have us believe?

Back to the endorsement, Matt has this to say about his reasons for supporting Acklin:

This is a vote that I wrestled with for some time but lately the smoke has cleared and I am voting with my mind and for my community. I truly believe that Acklin is the best candidate for our city neighborhoods. Acklin reminds me of our late great Mayor Bob O’Connor in his community first approach to government.

He has a lot more to say about his disillusionment with this administration.  He even includes a copy of a lengthy email that he sent to Luke, expressing his disappointment with the direction of the administration:

Luke,

I am writing tonight in frustration.

“This is not going to be good,” you can hear them thinking.

For far too long we residents of District 2 have gotten the short end of the stick on EVERYTHING. We don’t receive our fair share of services and we don’t have any plan for our community.

This seems to be a theme that pops up over and over again around the city, as does the complaint below.

We also don’t see you at a meet the candidates night when you were invited. You left 50 residents of District 2 wondering where you were, including myself. You are losing control here in District 2. We don’t see you enough or hear from you enough.

And he closes with this kicker:

For far too long I have stood by you praising you and your staff. I am at a breaking point. I can’t defend something when it is painfully obvious. District 2 is falling apart and I don’t see a plan to stop the walls from falling in.

If you haven’t visited the Pittsburgh Hoagie for a while, this entire post is worth a read.  If it turns out that someone hacked Matt H’s blogspot account, then I’ll take everything above back, but it seems to me like he is completely sincere in his concern about the administration, his praise for Kevin Acklin, and his love of community. ]]> http://progresspittsburgh.net/2009/11/01/pigs-fly-and-other-unexpected-news-2/feed/ 3 http://progresspittsburgh.net/2009/10/31/saturday-before-election-candidate-watch/ http://progresspittsburgh.net/2009/10/31/saturday-before-election-candidate-watch/#comments Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:12:14 +0000 politicalspy http://progresspittsburgh.net/?p=1172 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

According to Rich Lord,

Ravenstahl’s campaign raised $127,496… Kevin Acklin raised $135,290… Franco Dok Harris raised $113,611

Most observers believed that Harris would outraise Acklin, and any prognosticators who would have claimed that Ravenstahl would be outraised would have been run out of town.

Of course, raising money is half the story, but cash-on-hand is the other half.  Ravenstahl has $312,437 on hand, Acklin has $51,828, and Harris has $27,704.  It will be interesting to see if these numbers are thrown around in the effort to win over the Anybody-But-Luke vote.

* for the record, I do think that the corruption story is big, I just don’t find it shocking in the least.

The mayor shall have been a resident of the City for at least three years immediately preceding election

Harris held a press conference today, where he admitted (1) he only registered to vote in Pittsburgh this year, (2) he has never voted in the City of Pittsburgh, and (3) he had an apartment in the City of Pittsburgh, while voting in Sewickley.

There’s a couple of facts that are not really up for dispute:

1. As a student, temporarily living in Pittsburgh, Dok had a legal right to vote at his permanent address in Sewickley.  In other words, charges of voter fraud are ill-founded.  The U.S. Supreme court has ruled that students have a right to vote at their school address OR their permanent address.
2. Dok’s name cannot–at this point–be removed from the ballot.  Just as when a candidate dies between the time that the ballot is set and when an election occurs, that candidate’s name would likely remain on the ballot.

At the press conference, Harris produced copies of leases showing that he had an apartment in Pittsburgh, but by focusing on the two issues above, the media may be missing the boat on a bigger issue.  By exercising his right to vote from his parents’ address in Sewickley, is that an implicit establishment of that address as his permanent residence?  If this is the case, and Dok only established residency in the City of Pittsburgh this year, then would that make him ineligible to serve as mayor, if he were elected?

My guess is that the story may be over for now, but if the election ends up the way that Dok is hoping it will, then the question of residency and eligibility will be front-and-center.

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 – 6-8pm
Engine House No 25 in Lawrenceville

includes food and homemade wine, and lets you explore Pittsburgh’s one-of-a-kind Roberto Clemente Museum.

RSVP online – http://www.acklinforpittsburgh.com/events

Posted via web from progress pittsburgh’s posterous