Public Elections with Mark Rauterkus
Pittsburgh voters have seen Mark Rauterkus, candidate, six times.
* 2001, mayor
* 2005, state senate
* 2006, city council
* 2006, state senate withdrawal
* 2007, city controller and city council
First race, spring 2001, Republican primary, candidate for mayor, City of Pittsburgh
* Announced in August, 2000, party would not be D.
* Invited to R's County Committee in September 2000.
* Moved to R party registration later.
* Recruited opposition candidates for a contested primary.
* Consulted with high school student, Josh Pollock, D, who then became a candidate for mayor on January 1, 2001.
* County Executive, Jim Roddey, R, city resident, declined to sign nomination petition.
* Leader by a significant margin throughout a five-day WTAE TV poll, topping Murphy (incumbent mayor), O'Connor (city council president) and Carmine (R opponent). WTAE's news director removed the poll and never reported upon it.
* Rauterkus.com web page had highest single-day unique-page-views exceed 10,000.
* In May, 2001, primary for mayor, Tom Murphy, D, (incumbent) beat Bob O'Connor, D, by 699 votes. A 270 vote arithmetic and tabulation error unfolded on election night in a race of 32k vs. 31k.
* In the R primary, Carmine had 2,227 votes. Rauterkus had 1,950 votes with 98% counted. With 100% of the vote counted, the Rauterkus total became 1,597.
* Became the webmaster for Carmine2001.com.
* After the tragic events of 9-11-01, candidate Carmine turned his campaign to silence.
* Tom Murphy won the 2001 general election with 74%. That win would be his last campaign.
* In 2003, the mayor closed every city recreation center and swim pool in the city.
* In 2004, “Save Our Summer” efforts got some city pools to re-open.
* In 2001, the total percent of Non D and Non R voters in the city election was 2.6 percent. In 2005 the total percent of Non D and Non R voters was 5.7 percent.
Second race, May 17, 2005, special election (on the same day as the D and R primary) for PA senate, district 42, to fill the seat held formerly by Jack Wagner, D.
* Results: Mark Rauterkus got 2,542 votes, 7 percent, in a 3 way race that included Wayne Fontana, D, recently of county council, and Michael Diven, a D turned R, then in the PA house and formerly of city council.
Third race, March 14, 2006, special election for Pittsburgh city council, district 3, to fill a seat held by Gene Ricciardi, D.
* Shaped many of the issues on the campaign trails including talk of the RFP for the city owned ice rink in a city park.
* Working with a majority of the candidates in the crowded field, helped to sway the outcome away from one and toward the eventual winner, Jeff Koch, D.
* Results: Mark Rauterkus, Libertarian, 61 votes of 3,349, finished 7th out of 9. The R party candidate had 185 votes.
Fourth race, jumping off of the ballot for PA senate in August 2006.
* Helped lead a regional PA Clean Sweep ticket in the wake of citizen outrage concerning an illegal pay raise by members of the PA house and senate.
* As an Independent candidate, attempted to get onto the 2006 ballot for the general election for PA Senate, district 42, along with a candidate for Governor.
* In August, pulled self off of the ballot, (slated for November 7, 2006) by choice, before a Harrisburg judge after putting into the public record evidence of ethical wrongdoing by incumbent, PA senator, Wayne Fontana, D.
* This saga would grow into the Harrisburg scandal, Bonusgate. Elected officials used public resources against citizens for political gain.
Fifth and sixth races, general election, November 6, 2007: candidate for both city controller and city council, district 3.
* Results: Mark Rauterkus, Libertarian, got 6,476 votes, more than 10 percent against Michael Lamb, D, 89.5 percent and 55,930 votes. For city council, Rauterkus, Libertarian, got 690 votes, 13 percent. Bruce Kraus, D., got 4,530, 86 percent.
* Same day vote totals among various races: Mark Rauterkus = 7,169 votes. Meanwhile, Darlene Harris won re-election with less than 5,000 votes, and Rev. Burges won an election with 5,435 votes.
Future political ambitions
The goal is to be a member of the Peduto Administration and be devoted and loyal to those efforts. Once hired, sights on any other races for public office would vanish, and they have greatly diminished in the past decade.
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