Ethics Board Meets Friday

(H/T to Maria of 2 Political Junkies for use of the above photo.)

UPDATE: It turns out that I won't personally get to cover the first ethics board meeting; I'm part of our team coverage of the visit by President Bush to St. Vincent College. I'm told they're hoping for regularly scheduled meetings from now on. I was looking forward to covering the first, but other duties call.

The controversy over some Redd Up Crew workers wearing the above pictured t-shirts will land in the laps of Pittsburgh Ethics Hearing Board members. Mayor Ravenstahl has referred the issue to them.

That panel plans to hold its first official meeting with all five members present this Friday morning. It's set for 11:00 on May 11th in Pittsburgh City Council Chamber.

My Channel 4 Action News report on the controversy includes a new allegation: that a member Councilman Koch's staff made a campaign call from Koch's government office. That claim also appears to be headed for the ethics board. (I've added a video link here to a story on The Pittsburgh Channel.)

Regular readers of Pittsburgh's burgosphere have noticed lapses in posts by a variety of bloggers-about-town lately. (Was there a vacation package offered at that Boot Camp Pittsburgh seminar? Now I really wish I'd attended. ) Now, just as others have reappeared, I find myself temporarily going longer between offering blog posts. My apologies. I hope to pick up the pace again in a couple of weeks, but I won't be absent entirely in the meantime. For now, I'm a bit sleep-deprived from making sure that one of our beloved cats stays in his e-collar while recovering from a medical procedure.