Luke 2 Doug Text Message: The Mayor Explains

The burghosphere is buzzing about the biting e-mail from Mayor Luke Ravenstahl to Council President Doug Shields.

There are comparisons to everything from "The Matrix" to "The Office". PittGirl and The Angry Drunk Bureaucrat are among the many others joining in. (NOTE: These blogs are not affiliated with WTAE-TV. Some of them may contain rough language.)

Credit The Burgh Report with being the first to publish the contents, a mere two hours after the mayor clicked "send" on his computer.

As chance would have it, I read the e-mail on The Burgh Report minutes before I interviewed the mayor about his plans for a surveillance camera program (Video link here).

Ravenstahl gave no sign of being upset that his message had been quickly and widely circulated. He had sent copies of his message to a dozen people, including all members of city council. In fact the mayor was smiling and asked "do you want me to tell you what it says?" when I began searching through my BlackBerry for the quotes.

You can hear the 2 1/2 minute interview with the mayor about the e-mail by clicking this link. This will play in iTunes or QuickTime Media Player. Let me know if you have any problems.



Councilman Shields didn't return my call for comment, but he told the PG's Rich Lord "I sent the mayor a nice note back...I said thank you for the welcome back, but I've been here".

Here's the e-mail, courtesy of The Burgher:


From: Ravenstahl, Luke
Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2007 9:59 AM
To: Shields, Doug
Cc: Harris, Darlene; Deasy, Dan; Koch, Jeffrey; Motznik, Jim; Payne, Tonya; Bodack, Len; Peduto, Bill; Carlisle, Twanda; Urbanic, Bill; Zober, Yarone; Zober, Yarone; Mazefsky, Gabe; Stettner, Melissa
Subject: WELCOME BACK!

Welcome Back Mr. President! "I wish to remind you" that despite the fact that maybe you haven't been here the past three months, we have. Our door is always open. In fact, your respective Council members have individually, because of your seeming absence regarding legislative issues, come over to discuss things one on one with me. Once again, let this e-mail serve as an invitation to you, and any member, to contact Missy to schedule an appointment. And as always, any issue not requiring me but only staff can be handled through Gabe Mazefsky. Thank you.

Luke
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Luke
Ravenstahl
Mayor, City of Pittsburgh