Another endorsement slips through the cracks

I was taught to not say anything is if I couldn't say something good. At least, I didn't get a LANCE in today's edition for making a huff. It might come to me sooner -- or -- it could come to me just after the election. But, I'll chime in on the Trib's ways. Until then, here are two postings from the Trib:

Endorsements 2005: Diven in the 42nd - PittsburghLIVE.com: "Endorsements 2005: Diven in the 42nd

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

When Democrat state Rep. Mike Diven became Republican state Rep. Mike Diven, House Minority Leader Bill DeWeese, D-Greene County, fumed that it was not unusual for him to 'abandon organized labor or Gov. Ed Rendell.'

Mr. DeWeese, fond of $50 words, got downright down-home when he said of Diven, 'He forgot where he came from.'

Rep. Diven, a former Pittsburgh councilman from Brookline, knows exactly where he came from. He was elected on a good government platform to the House seat formerly held by Frank Gigliotti, a veteran Democrat officeholder who pleaded guilty to extortion, mail fraud and filing a false tax return.

Diven faces former Allegheny County Councilman Wayne Fontana in next Tuesday's special election for the 42nd District state Senate seat. The district opened when Jack Wagner became state auditor general.


We have little to say about Mr. Fontana. He remains a machine Democrat in a city whose finances were destroyed by machine Democrats, and that says enough.

In Harrisburg, Mr. Diven found a party that in his estimation is run by left-wing thugs. We won't argue with that.

Declaring his emancipation from the ruinous policies of the Democratic Party puts Diven head-and-shoulders above his opponent and has made DeWeese and company furious.

So, in the 42nd, Mike Diven clearly is the right choice.

The Trib (5/13) has a Laurel and Lance blurb:

Lance: To Wayne Fontana. The Democrats' nominee for the 42nd Senatorial District seat complains that the Trib endorses Republican Michael Diven in Tuesday's special election only because Mr. Diven "is a Republican." Sorry, Mr. Fontana, but Diven clearly is the better guy. Oh, Fontana conveniently omits that the Toledo, Ohio, Block Bugler's main reason for endorsing him is that he's (drumroll, please) a Democrat. But that's OK, right, Wayne?

Sadly, Pittsburgh's worst days are still to come.