Joe King and Act 47

Joe King, head of the Pgh Firefighter's Union, said he has "done everything human-ly possible" to stop the passage of the Act 47 Recovery Plan with city council. The plan passed in a 5-4 vote on June 29, 2004.

No doubt, a lot of rants did occur. Many hours were invested in going to public hearings. Shoe leather was spent in efforts to meet citizens on the streets and pass around fliers.

However, .... Doug Shields would NOT move his vote. Nor did Gene, Sala, Alan, nor Bill.

The missing link, for those that never forget, was the link from the union to the citizens. And, the history of the firefighters help to Tom Murphy to get a third term in office is classic.

Joe King was called, not once, not five time, not 10 times, not 20 times.... Joe King was called dozens of times to meet in the past. He was closed minded. Union leaders need to go out of their ways to meet with all the candidates who are seeking higher offices in the city. Joe King should have done that three years ago. Joe King could have done that three months ago too.

Finally, Joe King said to the media that he backed the wrong horse. The Firefighters were wrong to back Tom Murphy in the 2001 election. But this is more than that. The error was really wrong as visits with the other candidates, despite repeated attempts, didn't happen. Joe, this isn't a matter of picking the right horse. It is a matter of removal of one's head out of the wrong end of the horse.

The Firefighters had the power to put Tom Murphy into office. I said last summer that they had the power -- the lynch-pin -- to get Tom Murphy out of office.

Furthermore, ranting with bullhorns on the street with Sala on the weekend before the vote is nothing more than a good excuse to blow hot air.

Venting can help, as I have done above. However, venting isn't going to get us anywhere. Pittsburgh is broke. And, we need alternative plans.

Joe King put an offer onto the table in January 2004 to pay for the now out of work Recreation Staff so as to REOPEN the Rec Centers. This was a $800-k offer, or more. Nice move. Didn't work.

Joe, we need to get the Firefighters to meet with me -- and others -- so we can build real solutions in terms of the parks and rec centers. We need some help with "liability insurance" and other technical issues. Your volunteers and your staffers can help.

For more insights, see the position paper at http://DSL.CLOH.Org.