Republican Neugebauer hopes to oust Peduto from City Council His would be the first Republican blood in city government since the Great Depression, and he's the only hope for his party this year. It failed to field candidates for the other three council seats on the ballot Tuesday, and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, a Democrat, won the GOP nomination for the top post via a write-in bid.I do not know this guy. I do not vote in that district. But, the media is up to it typical tricks. This feature ran the weekend before the election. So, trick number one -- ignore, even the news worthy.
Then the other is to defame the opposition with this flashback of history since the time of dirt.
But all of this goes down the drain in 2009 if Luke Ravenstahl wins as he is on the ballot as a "R." And, if he isn't a victor, it is because he was on the ballot as a "R" too. But then we'd have another mayor who has been in office since the start of time who was an independent.
In other news, the city's all-Democratic government isn't monolithic on issues that don't matter much. On areas that count greatly, they walk lockstep. Those nine most diverse opinions are evident when it comes to spending money -- money that we don't have even.
Mr. Neugebauer also critiques Mr. Peduto for being "a little out of touch with specific neighborhoods. He focuses a lot on the overall city" rather than on the parts of Bloomfield, Friendship, East Liberty, North Oakland and West Oakland that round out the district.
Great. The old knock-em-down-for-being-global plank. Need more parochialism do we?
Jobs do this to you: "I've spent 15 years of my life working for the people of District 8," countered Mr. Peduto, counting his time as an aide to former Councilman Dan Cohen. "There isn't a week that goes by that I'm not at some type of community meeting, for 15 years." Because you've gone to 15 years of meetings as a paid employee, you are not entitled to another four years of pay checks. That is status-quo logic at its best.
I hope to meet Mr. Neugebauer some day and thank him for running. Where is his 'victory party' on Tuesday night? Post in the comments so that the word gets out.
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6 comments:
Mark, I think that we, the city and county need a better way of electing officials.Numerically I don't think there is a city council district that could elect a Republican.The primaries need to change.We need to open them to the independents.Maybe we do runoffs.We need to make the process more dynamic,broad-based and inclusive.
Well, I've got a long list of things I'd like to do to better manage our elections.
#1. Ballot access.
#2. How about "None of the above." That option should be on all ballots in the city/county/region/state.
Then, in no other order...
In TN, it is illegal to tell what party you are from mayor on down. They run on their name only, sans party designation.
Percentage voting would help. Give my 50% to one and 50% to the others -- and 0% to the incumbent.
Instant Runnoff Voting has lots of promise too.
Public finance???
Public financed debates, for sure. That can be on city cable.
Let's see, you take a shot at Peduto for attending community meetings while on the payroll? Granted, that's part of the job description. If that's the case, most of his colleagues need to be fired post-haste.
Peduto is the most fiscally-conservative member of Pittsburgh city council. And the best council person in Pittsburgh. Period.
The quote was weak. There are plenty of reasons to vote for and keep Peduto on council. Him going to 15 years of meetings, one per week at the least, is not one of them. Well, it is one -- but #1,001.
Wait. Who? All google results go to some guy in South Dakota...
I can hardly speak for all citizens of district 8, but can assure you in Shadyside we would have been happy to vote Peduto for mayor then (and now). He backed out so we went for the next best option in Mark DeSantis.
Tomorrow, Peduto will easily win re-election and Acklin will most likely garner the majority of mayoral votes in Shadyside.
(Kind of strange how similar the Peduto and Acklin mailers are btw.)
Shadyside can be a bubble for sure, but even a progressive neighborhood can go Republican if it means not voting for an old machine Democrat like Luke Ravenstahl.
Thinking a Republican can win Shadyside because DeSantis won previously is like saying Dok Harris can win Pittsburgh because, like our President, he is biracial and Pittsburgh went Obama in the general.
It just isn't that simple. Poor logic.
Go Peduto!
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