Quinn and Rose talk to Carmine

Dr. James Carmine, Republican candidate for Mayor of Pittsburgh, was interviewed today (May 30th) on the Quinn & Rose show. The interview lasted the best part of the final 35 minutes of the show.

I jotted down a few things I heard as best I could (in between phone calls, emails, etc. engineering equations) while listening at work today. Nothing here is verbatim, but I think I got the drift of the conversation for the most part. If you want the full interview or to confirm anything I might have possibly misrepresented then go to Quinn's show archives for today at:
http://archives.warroom.com/archives.pcp

** Offering tax incentives to bring businesses into an area often brings in bad businesses that wouldn't come in otherwise. This policy brings in outsiders at the expense of insiders.

** Tom Murphy is an arrogant man. He's subject to his vision overriding his common sense. All too often he gives away the farm to outside businesses in the form of tax breaks.

** It's bad to buy votes with public funds. Stadiums and a north shore "Disneyland" are examples of this. Democrats have sold out the black community time after time, but they still somehow manage to get their votes.

** The colleges and universities in Pittsburgh are a great local strength. (What would you expect a
local college professor to say?) He sees an opportunity for government to help to keep these
young people here. Quinn cautioned about adopting a "central planning" mindset and suggested just eliminating things like entertainment taxes, but Dr. Carmine didn't seem convinced that a more active government would be bad.

** Quinn said that he'd like to invite Dr. Carmine back for additional interviews to let voters know that there is another candidate out there.

Voting Weirdness as reported in www.InPgh.com

The election was less than idea. The vote count was off.

UPMC Eye and Ear Institute Open House

You are cordially invited to an open house to celebrate the newly renovated audiology and hearing aid department.

20-minute hands-on demostrations:

- Noise reduction technology
- Directional microphone technology for hearing and noise
- Disposable hearing aids
- Assistive listening devices
- Video otoscope - come see your own ear canal and ear drum

Monday, May 21, 2001, 1-4 pm

203 Lothrop Street

Evening Program

4:30-4:45 Catherine V. Palmer, Ph.D., Director, audiology and Hearing Aids, UPMC Health System, Welcome

4:45 to 5:30 Mead C. Killion, Ph.D., President, Etymotic Research, Missing Dots: Audibility or Missing Inner Hair Cells -- It's All the Same to the Brain

5:30 to 5:45 Eugene N. Myers, MD, Professor and Chairman, Dept of Otolaryngology, Remarks

5:45 to 6:45 Dinner

6:45 to 7:15 pm Gail Dudmundsen, MA, Gundhear Inc. LOBAT-Standard or Option on All Hearing Aids

7:15 to 7:45 pm Robert Sweetow, PhD., Univ. of California, San Francisco, The Efficacy of Disposable, Entry Leval and Instant Fit Hearing Aids

7:45 to 9 pm, Dessert and reception in the newly renovated audiology and hearing aid department, Eye & Ear Institute, 4th floor

InPgh: Tribune-Review Causes Republican To Convert to Liberal Views: Antichrist consults publicist about future

This article ran in the InPgh, an alternative newsweekly, on 5-16-01. It was by Marty Levine

Too late for the primary but far ahead of the general election, presumptive Republican nominee Jim Carmine has had a change of heart about the Citzens Police Review Board and the federal consent decree under which Pittsburgh police operate. He's now in favor of them. And it's all thanks to that bastion of leberalism, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, which has not covered Carmine the way ti pushed James Roddey for county executive over Cyril Wecht. A Trib reporter (whom Carmine wishes to keep anonymous, lest the poor man lose his job) asked Carmine some challenging questions that proved a conversion experience shortly before the primary. "yes, indeed, we deserve the consent decree," Carmine now says. "we did some awful stuff in Pittsburgh. We did it, we got it, we earned it." The CPRB is a much more complicated animal -- limping and toothless actually -- but Carmine believes it could work with the right support from the mayor's office. He cites the Garrity warning, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which lets police testify without being prosecuted by such review bodies as the CPRB. "I would indeed be willing to coerce police testimony" using Garrity, Carmine says. "What is happening now is despicable. The police sit there with their hands folded" before the CPRB while the board hands out sentences unenforceable by Chief Robert McNeilly, Jr. under current police contracts. "Which means the mayor's office will be sued." Carmine concludes. "But it makes it very, very clear that the mayor is behind the CPRB." Imagine that.

Last mayoral debate stars all 7 hopefuls

Tuesday, May 08, 2001

By James O'Toole, Politics Editor, Post-Gazette

The men who would be mayor traded views on schools, public safety and transportation issues last night in the final debate before next Tuesday's primary election.

For five of the candidates, it was the only chance to share a televised stage with Mayor Tom Murphy and City Council President Bob O'Connor, the leading candidates for the Democratic nomination that has for decades been tantamount to election in Pittsburgh.

"Thank God for public television. We finally have all the candidates together," Democrat Leroy L. Hodge remarked as the 90-minute session opened.

The incumbent was, as expected, the most frequent target of criticism, but the tone of the evening was more earnest than contentious.

O'Connor challenged Murphy's management of the police department, faulting the fact that the city entered into a federal consent decree governing police conduct. The councilman also criticized the fact that last year's police recruiting class had no minorities and only three females.

Murphy strongly defended his management and the department's performance while again criticizing O'Connor for his promise to fire Police Chief Robert McNeilly Jr.

"We've made big changes; we're batting 100 percent on the consent decree," Murphy said. "We've changed the culture."

James Carmine, a Republican candidate, saw a lack of leadership on Murphy's part over police officers refusing to testify before the Pittsburgh Citizen Police Review Board.

Mark Rauterkus, the other GOP hopeful, said he would increase awareness on police issues by televising deliberations of the police review board.

Hodge said he would stress improved education and training for officers and do more to recruit city residents for the force.

In response to a question on the problems of trash and dumping in the city, Murphy said he was considering establishing a special environmental court to increase visibility and prosecution of environmental crimes.

O'Connor said the answer was not a new court but a larger budget for the city's Public Works Department.

"We don't have to reinvent the wheel all over again," O'Connor said.

Earl V. Jones Sr., another Democrat, said that the answer to the problem was personal example."I spent two years of my life cleaning up my neighborhood," said the Hazelwood retiree. "You have to show the people even if you have to do it yourself."

On transportation, O'Connor said that the completion of the city portion of the Mon-Fayette Expressway offered promise in easing congestion in city neighborhoods such as Squirrel Hill.

But Murphy sounded a distinctly skeptical note on the mammoth construction project, which is strongly supported by some of the same labor unions that support him in the coming primary.

"I have not embraced the Mon Valley Expressway yet," he said.

In elaborating after the debate, Murphy said, "The fact of the matter is if you're going to spend millions of dollars on highways, you're never going to have enough money to build a mass transit system like you see in other cites."

On another issue, Murphy said the city had "learned some hard lessons on Plan B," where what he termed "pass-though shenanigans" have allowed the circumvention of promises that a specified portion of the stadium construction work would go to minority and female-owned firms.

Democrat Joshua Pollock called the Murphy administration's record on minority contracting "one of the most disgusting things this city has done."

Speaker

Homewood Brushton Meet the Candidates Forum

Homewood Library Auditorium

Pittsburgh Mayoral Candidates Only

Radio debate notes with James Carmine

Contrast with Jim Carmine

Roles: I'm a citizen. The professor has said that he started his political career.... Carmine ran for office in the past. I've never run for office. And, IMSHO, running for office does not make a career.

Cash: Professor Carmine thinks that big fundraising is ready to occur and serious contributions are expected after he wins the primary. Or, perhaps, after the primary season has ended. I don't. I'm ready to make a lot of waves with very little money. We don't expect to get more than $50 from any one contibutor. We need to bootstrap. We need to run the city on less money. We need to run our campaign on less as well. To spend 1/10th or 1/20th of what the Democrat spends will be a badge of accomplishment.

Role of the City Government: I think that we need to contract the role of city's long-arm and get out of the gross development deals. Carmine has said that government needs to do what the people want.

I think that the prime role of mayor's office is to follow the laws and administer jutice. I advocate a strong embrace for the constitution.

Taxes: Raise, Same, Lower? My answer is short: We'll lower taxes.
Let's start with the deed-transfer tax. There are some wreckless taxes that are holding us back. We need to take away those chains so we can reward and not punish the actions that we desire. To sell and buy your home needs to be rewarded and made easier, not more expensive. The deed-transfer tax hits hardest as it comes as an upfront fee taking money away from the down-payment.
Professor Carmine's long answer as to what he'd do with taxes made a fuzzy approach. He said, "We'll see when we get there," or after he figures out more of the details.

Notes were from from a 30-minute radio debate on the Jerry Bowyer show in the spring of 2001.
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