Pondering Code of Conduct for 2005 Mayor's Race

Your feedback, either in comments below or directly to Mark04@Rauterkus.com are welcomed.

In the next couple of days, I'm going to make an effort to advance a "code of conduct" that centers on Pittsburgh's 2005 Mayor's Race. This will include a call to others to contribute ideas and offer solutions.

In 2001, Mayor Murphy made one debate in the general election. It was held on Sunday night before the Tuesday election. That can't happen again. And, it can't be forgotten.

In 2002, Mayor Murphy made a TV commercial that used the Mayor's office as a backdrop to endorse Ed Rendell. That calculated error should have been pulled from the airways and NOT run -- but the neither the media outlets nor the endorser nor the candidate saw fit to do the right thing.

In 2004, the game is about 527 organizations.

Serious legal questions abound again relating to Ed
Rendell and 527 Organizations with the Pennsylvania Kerry/Edwards Campaign.

Republican State Committee Chairman Alan Novak this week called the coordination between Governor Rendell, the State Democratic Party and ultra-liberal 527 groups an egregious violation of Federal Election Commission Campaign Finance laws.

Governor Ed Rendell is running the grassroots operation and get-out-the-vote effort of the Democrat Party of Pennsylvania through 527 soft-money groups such as Americans Coming Together," stated Novak. "He has some serious questions to answer."

In a letter dated September 20, 2004, Governor Rendell solicits funds for America Coming Together's (ACT) grassroots operation in Pennsylvania and promises ACT will spend nearly $10 million in Pennsylvania to elect Democrats at all levels of government.

Under Federal Election Commission (FEC) guidelines, it is illegal for coordination to take place between a candidate, or agent of that candidate, and any so-called 527 organization.

Governor Rendell, as an agent of the Kerry/Edwards campaign, sent out a recent email paid for by Kerry/Edwards 2004 seeking support for their grassroots effort in Pennsylvania.

Despite the clear prohibition against coordination between 527 operations and campaigns, it is apparent Governor Rendell and the State Democrats have been coordinating and communicating with 527 organizations operating in Pennsylvania for months. As far back as April, Governor Rendell, in a conference call set up by the John Kerry campaign, said that several Washington, D.C.-based soft-money organizations formed by Democrats will spur widespread Democratic voter registration and turnout in Pennsylvania.

In a recent Fox News interview, when asked about his party‚s grassroots organization, Democrat State Committee Chair T.J. Rooney made clear the coordination between the state party, Kerry/Edwards 2004 and ACT.

"Since the onset of the presidential campaign in Pennsylvania, there has been obvious coordination between 527s and the Pennsylvania Kerry/Edwards grassroots campaign. In case anyone had a doubt, these recent revelations are proof-positive that ACT is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Kerry/Edwards Campaign and the Democrat Party of Pennsylvania. Governor Rendell knows the needs and plans of the Kerry/Edwards campaign in Pennsylvania, now he is blatantly helping 527‚s coordinate and fund it," said Chairman Novak.

121 Communications - Vote121 Toolbar

121 Communications - Vote121 Toolbar: "Vote121 is an innovative new browser toolbar that brings all the latest campaign news and opinion straight to your browser."

When I'm mayor, we'd have a Pittsburgh toolbar for web browsers. My main surf station is on an iMac.

Jeff Habay makes great case for NOTA

Shaler native, PA State Represenative, Republican, Jeff Habay is in trouble with nagging ethics issues and the state's top attorney is pushing for larger charges. I'm not sure Habay he is guilty or not, but let's look at the bigger picture, democracy.
http://www.post-gazette.com/breaking/20040617habayp3.asp

Video of Jeff: http://65.254.51.42/~player/media/politics-others/habay-go-gop.MPG

NOTA is short for None Of The Above.

Habay is up for re-election in November, His term, like that of all state reps, goes for two years. On the ballot, Habay is without an opponent. Habay runs on the GOP ticket but has enough friends on the Dem side to write in Habay in the primary election so as to gain ballot access for both of the old parties.

I don't know who is going to beat Jeff Habay. However, someone should start to build a buzz about a write-in campaign for NOTA.

The NOTA option is used in elections elsewhere. When NOTA beats the candidates on the ballot, another election is called with different candidates. I'd like to see NOTA become a regular tool within our election process.

Town Meeting: Louisville on uniting city-county government

PG pushes its agenda
There is much to stay about these issues and the spin from the PG in its series.
I've been to Louisville. I've even taken bus-loads of people there. Young people. When a deputy mayor visited Pittsburgh a year or so ago, I talked to him following the PUMP presentation and asked, "Would the city of Louisville tolerate the closing of its swim pools?" He could not even imagine the thought nor begin to fathom the fall-out from such miss-deeds.

The merger efforts began with measures on the ballot. That's democracy. Meanwhile, we have a mayor who fights to remove the opinions from the voters. Mayor Murphy does NOT want to enable ballot questions. Our present mayor takes petitions with thousands of signatures to court to get them removed from the ballot.

Our mayor and those of his administration can't begin to even scratch the realm of the possible in terms of an earnest conversation about cooperation, unity, mergers, and civility.

We need to strengthen our democracy and our will to self-govern. Then we can begin to talk about changing the system. We have authorities that rule without accountability. We have "his honor" -- like a king who is without term limits. He buys votes with public money to stay in office.

All talks of grand principles of reform need to begin after the voters remove the lame leadership that governs Pittsburgh.

As mayor, I'd insure we put a handful of voter referendums onto the ballot at every election.

The process in Louisville took a lead-up of four referendums. That is where the seed of the real progress resides.

Meanwhile, the PG sees a false hope in more high-stakes "branding" -- such as the branding the merger to "UNITY." The switch in semantics was emblematic of a sophisticated and well-funded political campaign that sold the idea of a city-county consolidation to skeptical voters.

Give us a break.

Perhaps the $1.5 million campaign treasury just purchased the vote. Or, perhaps on the fourth attempty they got it right. The whole slew of TV commercials would not have amounted to squat had they been pushing the wrong solution. They got it right with the nod to political reality. The suburban municipalities stayed intact.

Perhaps the other votes "failed" (wrong word) because they were not good enough. Perhaps this one passed because backers were rich enough. Or perhaps, the real factor was that this measure was good enough.

More wrongheaded conclusions are being pushed upon Pittsburgh in too many articles such as this.

Furthermore, in Pittsburgh we've got this legacy that not only supresses what the people want by those who are smart enough to think for everyone. But, when the votes are taken on questions, at the polls, the results don't stick. It didn't matter that the people voted to NOT BUILD new stadiums. A short time later the new castles money were built with taxpayer money -- in spite of the referendum's result that said NO.

Skeptical electorate talk pins Pittsburgh, like the tail on the donkey. The people are not foolish for being skeptical. The people of Pittsburgh are wise to the ways of the "wire-pullers."

Pittsburgh's "done-deal mentality" has run its course. This marathon has been cancelled. Mayor Murphy and cronies have fallen for the last time and can't get up. Lawrence, Mellon and others can roll over in their graves.

Pittsburgh's revival begins with its voters and a new mindset. Think again! Pittsburgh will heal itself, thank you, as soon as all the king's horses and all the king's men figure out that they can't put it together again. Their time is up. The oversight boards have taken the mess they've made off their hands. The next Pittsburgh wave is about the people, the kids, our families, our limited and cooperative government.

We can merge the city and county governments as they did in Louisville. But, we've got to run the old, grey, and worn out of the barn and into the private sector.

Maverick enters mayoral race

AP Wire | 09/30/2004

Murphy has been forced to repeatedly deny bankruptcy rumors as the Nov. 2 election approaches. A scathing report issued by a city-commissioned law firm in September portrayed a dysfunctional City Hall with a history of keeping damaging information from public view. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department are investigating the city's financial practices.

It could be, but the news above is NOT about Pittsburgh. Rather its from the seventh largest city in the US.

The new entry, playing a spoiler's role perhaps is a sporting, surfer type. She insisted that a write-in candidate could win. She must submit 200 signatures and pay $500 by Oct. 19 for her name to be appear on a list of write-in candidates posted at city polling places. 'The public knows how to write,' she said. 'I am convinced that the citizens are smart enough to figure out how to write 'Frye' on a little line and fill out a little oval.'

Such a shame that western PA's infrastructure is so frail that sensible write-in options are not within our grasps. I'm seeking to change our backwards election policies to enable the true citizens voice to sound with greater force. Furthermore, the two who stand to most to loose with the new arrival in the race, Murphy and Roberts, invited the newest participant to participate in a series of televised debates.

A San Diego environmental lawyer and lifelong surfer called Frye a 'matriarch' in surfing circles. She was activist for clean water and got involved after her husband, a surfer, was sickened by dirty water.

My wake-up call came with the distruction of Pitt Stadium and the building of the dwarf football fields at the UPMC's Sports Center on the South Side -- still without the long-ago promised community access.

Budget Tomfoolery

Allegheny Institutue - vol4no37.pdf a PDF file about how the city isn't cutting, isn't moving parks to contracts, isn't liquidating.

Eric's jeopardy rant

His opinion mentioned: PittsburghLIVE.com"...quixotic Mayor Tom Murphy"

Humm..... as a mayor's race participant I was called quixotic in 2000/2001.

So, does that now mean that the name "front-runner" will come my way next?

PIIN "Rolling Thunder" Public Action Meeting - 3 pm, Oct 17

Pittsburgh Interfaith Impact Network (PIIN) hosts its third public action at 3 pm on Sunday, October 17, 2004 at Wesley Center A.M.E.-Zion Church, 2701 Centre Ave. (Hill District).

Congregations and organizations in Southwestern Pennsylvania draw together to issue demands and act powerfully on local and regional issues. PIIN is a younger organization that has its methods of community-building, direct action, and negotiation with decision makers.

PIIN's first newsletter looks snappy.

Democracy matters to me

Few issues are as important to me as civics 101 -- public life in America. Democracy counts. It matters. When it is frail and flounders, as a habit, people depart and vote with their feet.

See and hear my statement before City Council on September 28, 2004 in a QuickTime movie.

Moving out for liberty

The Pitt News: "'Because you leave a nice house with great food and a loving mom and you go to, what, a studio apartment with a rusted Volkswagen in the driveway [and] a mini fridge with leftover bologna? Why would you do that?'

'The answer is liberty,' he added. 'You love Mom and Dad, but it's time to make decisions for yourself. Does the government love you more than Mom and Dad? The republicans want to be your daddy, and the democrats want to be your mommy.' "

Yard Sign for bloggers and beyond

Frances Resigned

Frances Barnes, Ed.D., had been on the board that fights against discrimination. She stepped down from that commission as she was discriminated against. The moment-to-moment justice in Pittsburgh is unreal. This is one of our greatest ills. The saga lived by Frances is a splendid example of what is so wrong here.

Her statement given with heavy heart.

If I was the mayor, I'd NOT accept her resignation. I'd make her in charge of the commission.

Visitors from Iraq visit Pittsburgh

A state department tour put two visitors into city council chambers. Hear their statements.

index

Female's statement
Doctor's statement

Click to see the Quicktime movies

Black Box Voting: Ballot - Tampering in the 21st Century

Black Box Voting site: "detail a 'long history of concealing problems' and a willingness to ignore potentially serious problems 'largely for the sake of corporate profit'. "

Has a book in PDF files.

Ninth floor visit to cable tv department

I went to the 9th floor of the city-county building and asked those in the cable tv breau for their help in working to keep them alive. The new oversight plans call for the elimination of the department. One of the worse things would be the holding of city council meetings without telivision coverage. We need more light and awareness on the matters of our public life, not less.

My name and contact info went to the union leader in that department. I doubt I'll hear anything of merit from them.

It makes sense to fund the department, and have new income streams from them via the County Council and the Pgh Public School board.

There is no way the money for PCTV 21, cable access, should be diverted to Grant Street. A letter was read into the record that suggested such a solution.

Another bites the dust

Carnegie Library Director Herb Elish is leaving! PG on Elish's departure. This is good news. Can he take the merry-go-round with him as he goes?

Rally without the political signs

A call to gather hit the inbox.

Friends,

This coming Sunday, October 3 (can you believe that it is October already?) we will be meetingat 11:30 AM in a show of support for the men and women in the military.

The rally will be held at Fort Duquesne in Point State Park -- Pittsburgh's oldest military facility. The temperatures are expected to be in the 70s with the possibility of some rain, so dress appropriately. However bad it might be, it will still be quite a bit more comfortable than conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is little or no chance at all of sandstorms, bombings, or firefights.

This rally is for the men and women serving this country. Not the politicians and not the government. This is for our sons and daughters, our brothers and sisters, our husbands and wives, our neighbors and friends who are risking their lives for our security, our safety, and our well being.

Since that horrible day three years ago, there have been no more attacks here on our soil. One reason is that many of the would be bombers and attackers are engaged in a struggle against our troops in Iraq. They have made themselves the target so that we wouldn't be. We are able to go about our lives in relative security because of their service and their sacrifice. Come say thank you to these brave men and women.

Please forward this to everyone in your local email list and ask that they send it on to everyone in their's. I hope to see you all there.

Go here for full details:

www.nikkiusa.com/FreedomRallyII-Pittsburgh

Remember -- THIS IS NOT A POLITICAL RALLY. BRING YOUR FLAG, BUT PLEASE LEAVE THE CAMPAIGN SIGNS AT HOME.

Oversight board postpones on Pittsburgh budget

AP: "A state panel overseeing Pittsburgh's financial recovery has delayed a vote on the city's $433 million budget proposal, which includes a 34 percent property tax increase that the mayor, city council and the state oversight board do not intend to implement.

The Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority delayed a meeting set for Wednesday until Oct. 18 to study the proposed 2005 budget, said David O'Laughlin, an oversight board member.

Given the phony budget, these folks choose to not hold a meeting to talk about it in open. Perhaps the typical, backroom, closed-door deal-making isn't done. Perhaps this is why people are so skeptical. Perhaps this is why people choose to vote with their feet and leave the city and region.

Officials want 911 sit-down

They want a 'sit down?' No, not a sit-down strike. No, not a sit-in. Reasoned, trusted, public-service people can and do want measured progress. They want to sit down and get to the basics of planning for a better future. Many people out there care.

Officials want 911 sit-down - PittsburghLIVE.com

'We're ready to hand the keys over to you, once we have a sit-down about these issues,' Shaler Manager Tim Rogers told Onorato. 'We're ready to do it by the end of this year.' "

Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh folks do a brush off. Dan O does a push away. Still, he acknowledged, the county is not yet ready to take on the extra duties."

We've got people who can't walk and chew gum at the same time. We need to think again. We can't linger and not have the plans put on paper.

Pittsburgh City Council earlier this year approved merging the city and county dispatch centers after more than a decade of wrangling. Mayor Tom Murphy hailed the shift as a way to improve the area's emergency response capabilities while saving the city almost $1 million a year in payroll and benefits.

The merger's delay, still not complete, made for a decade of failures that rest with the Mayor, Tom Murphy. Sure, council had to approve the deal. But, Tom Murphy had to deliver it. This too ten years. Only the promise of oversight boards doing the dirty work did anything happen. Tom Murphy had his hand forced with oversight boards. He would still be doing nothing if it was up to him. And, he'll claim the one move, that took a decade to complete, makes him a champion of mergers.

Tom Murphy was in the way. And, other city based officials are in the way. When the folks in the county want to sit down -- we should have leaders who sit down and talk.

Talk is cheap. Do it. That is all we got. We have nothing to give away. We might as well sit down and talk about cooperation in these times. These guys, the old guard of city's do-little elected place holders, are too used to in-action. They don't even talk.

Back and forth with Charles McCollester

I am NOT going back and forth with Mr. McCollester. He is doing the heavy lifting and pitching ideas to the PG and Jim Roddey -- in public. Here is some of the recent rumblings that arrived in my inbox.

Friends:

On Labor Day the Post-Gazette printed my Op-Ed entitled "Assault on City Workers" (attached). Jim Roddey followed with a very nasty and personal attack (see P-G, Sept. 13). As of this moment the Post-Gazette has decided not to print my "Reply to a Rebuttal"(attached and following), but I'd like your help in distributing it to those who might be interested.

Thanks,
Charlie McCollester

Response to a Rebuttal

Issues raised by Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority board member Jim Roddey

Leaving aside the gratuitous personal attacks, I'd like to respond to the points raised in Mr. Roddey's rebuttal article:

As anyone who has read my articles in the Post-Gazette over the last several years on Pittsburgh's financial crisis knows, I have been extremely critical of Mayor Murphy's development priorities, fiscal management in relation to Tax Increment Financing, and the brutal across-the-board closing of pools, recreation and senior centers.

That was phase one of the squeeze; phase two is upon us. The problem with Mr. Roddey's characterization of future recommendations from the ICA calling for a fairer sharing of the tax burden is twofold: First, they are in the future and therefore somewhat ill-defined and second, they must pass through a Republican controlled legislature. That is not to excuse Democratic complicity with the present situation. In a previous article I criticized Democratic legislators for failing to come to the aid of a city that has been very loyal to the party over the past seventy years.

As far as participation in the process goes, I interviewed a half dozen city unions about their experience with the Act 47 Recovery Team for the article. Their experiences ranged from little or no contact to a one-sided pushing of an agenda of privatization and cuts without serious bargaining or listening to either a critique of their assumptions or a presentation of union generated alternatives.

The city mechanics are a case in point. I personally attended the very first meeting of the ICA and my impression was that the entire process would have been much more under wraps if there were not a very vocal group of activists as well as the media demanding transparency.

The elimination of Pittsburgh City Cable certainly doesn't indicate any great concern for public access to the deliberations and concerns of the city's elected representatives.

As far as cuts either executed or proposed for police and firefighters, it's hard to see how public safety has not been materially affected. The whole thrust of the Firefighters referendum is to assert performance standards over mechanistic cost reduction. They want a guarantee that residents will be effectively served in any reorganization. Talking with firefighters in our local station, they were acutely concerned about an imposed plan that would undermine
their ability to serve the neighborhoods.

As to Mr. Roddey?s assertion that he never called for the elimination of City Council, the Tribune-Review on March 31, 2004 reported that the state oversight board is looking at dissolving Pittsburgh's government -- including eliminating the mayor's office and City Council -- as a way to solve the city's financial woes.

The May 15 edition of the Post-Gazette pinpointed Mr. Roddey's leading role: A March 31 draft of the oversight board?s recommendation, authored by board member and former Allegheny County Chief Executive Jim Roddey, urged the Legislature to dissolve the mayor's office and City Council and replace them with a part-time council and a city manager.

While I have urged City Council to get more backbone in their resistance to repeated violations of democratic legitimacy, I deeply respect their position as the elected representatives closest to the people, neighborhoods and workers of the city during this time of crisis.

As to my students receiving a very biased view of how communities prosper, I must respond that I have spent 25 years arguing that the preservation and modernization of our region's manufacturing base was critical to the region's economic health. The turning away from an understanding of how wealth is created and the importance of productive labor by people who grow, build and make things by much of our political and economic leadership has been one cause of our region's collapse.

I once admired Mr. Roddey for his early championing of MAGLEV, but lost a lot of respect for him when he declared the project dead in the course of his last campaign for county executive - apparently to gain a few not-in-my-backyard suburban votes. I continue to believe that the innovative work being done at the MAGLEV facility in McKeesport remains the best hope for a renewal of manufacturing in our region.

We cannot shop, gamble or entertain our way to sustainable prosperity. Investment in production and wealth creation is essential for the long-range survival of both our region and the nation. We also cannot strip our urban areas of essential services and amenities and expect them to prosper. The workers and residents of the City of Pittsburgh are ill served by the present undemocratic and unfair process. Mr. Roddey needs to take responsibility for his positions and not try to deflect legitimate criticism by personal attacks.