Post Debate Q&A: Acklin Attacks Ravenstahl on Verbanac Ties

It triggered the sharpest exchanges of WTAE's mayoral debate. Independent challenger Kevin Acklin repeatedly questioned Pittsburgh Democratic Mayor Luke Ravenstahl about the influence and role of a private businessman in his administration. Acklin claims that Cranberry businessman John Verbanac is powerful figure who has clients that stand to benefit from influencing Ravenstahl's policies. As he did during an earlier debate, the mayor described John Verbanac as a friend but he ridiculed Acklin's allegations as desperate and false. Verbanac himself later dismissed what he called Ackin's attempt to impugn him as "distasteful and wrong".

Acklin told Ravenstahl he had obtained:

"...very specific documents and e-mails that prove that Mr. Verbanac has had a very intimate relationship with your administration He's written your speeches, he literally puts words into your mouth. He's called the shots on who you hire and fire. He advises you on city policies and developments, including developing your strategic plan. He advised you on the firing of BBI (Bureau of Building Inspection) Director Ron Graziano and also called for the purging of your staff. It was very clear, Mr. Ravenstahl, that you lied to the people of this city..."

...Later...

Kevin Acklin:

"What business interest does John Verbanac have before your administration or with any of these city authorities?"

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl:

"First of all, he has none, I answered the question last week, that he is a friend of mine. Your accusations are wrong. They're inappropriate. And I think they show the level to which apparently this campaign is going to go over the next couple of weeks. Bringing private citizens into conversations, making accusations that are false, like Kevin just did. And I'm not going to get into the minutiae of responding to every single thing that he thinks he can throw against the wall. I would just advise Mr. Acklin to be very, very careful."

Acklin:

"Is that a threat?"

...Later...

Acklin:

"The mayor just lied again. We have information in documents again, including e-mails that prove very clearly..."

Ravenstahl:

"I don't understand your point, Kevin. John Verbanac is a friend of mine, yes."

Acklin:

"Who very much is actively involved in your administration at the same time he literally has business interests in front of the city, that we have documentation to prove. Isn't that the definition of corruption?"

Ravenstahl:

"Not at all. Because I have conversations with a gentleman who's a friend of mine?"

Acklin:

"At the same time he's directing your policies."

The barbs continued after the debate, during my interviews with the candidates. You can click the link below to listen to the raw audio from my mp3 recorder. Below that you can read some breakout quotes from the Q&A.

Acklin:

• "To be clear, these aren't attacks. These are facts..."

• "It's very that Mr. Verbanac has played a strong role in this administration. It's also very clear that he has business interests in front of this city."

• "...These documents came from a former high ranking official and I was a little taken aback by the fact that he (Ravenstahl) lied to us."

• "...It matters because people want honest leadership in government. And you have a situation here with someone with a lot of influence over this mayor's administration (who) also has a lot of interest in business before the city. These documents speak for themselves. "

• "...And if this isn't corruption, I don't know what is."

Ravenstahl:

• "It's laughable. Especially when you consider if he and I were so close, I don't think I would have been a supporter of the Isle of Capri's bid for the casino license."

[Note: Verbanac had ties with Forest City Enterprises, which was teamed with a competing casino license bidder.]

•"I'm not sure exactly what Mr. Acklin is referring to . I think it shows the desperation right now in his campaign. That John Verbanac is a friend of mine -- he is a friend of mine. When I make decisions I speak with a lot of different individuals. Including my staff, including friends..."

• "Once again, It's a desperate attempt by a desperate candidate to try to create some interest in a race. And it's uncalled for. And you'd have to ask Mr. Acklin why he's choosing to stoop to these levels."

• "..He's (Verbanac's) never given a dollar to my campaign. He's never contributed to my campaign. He's no more than somebody I bounce ideas off of... There's no inappropriate relationship there whatsoever."

Franco Dok Harris, the other independent candidate for mayor, said after the debate:

"You hear whispers all the time. We don't have a stack of documents like the Acklin campaign or try to paint any kind of pictures. What we're doing is, we're trying to bring a positive message."

[Note: Excerpts from the documents released by the Acklin campaign appear on Bram Reichbaum's blog, The Pittsburgh Comet.]


In response to my phone messages, I received the following e-mail from John Verbanac:

Bob,

With regard to your inquiry, here is my statement.

" I consider myself to be a valued friend and advisor to this Mayor, his predecessor and a number of current and former public officials, non profit and private business leaders. The fact that a desperate candidate in an effort to bolster his failing campaign would attempt to impugn me or the Mayor is distasteful and wrong and an example of why voters are so disenchanted with politics."

Thank you.

John Verbanac

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Snoop Dogg, Mayor Luke, & the Power of Incumbency

How does any would-be mayoral challenger compete with this? The photo above immortalizes Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's ascendance into a still higher sphere of reflected celebrity glory. This shot of his honor flashing a sign with rap superstar Snoop Dogg is from Snoop's own Flickr stream -- snapped at Snoop Dogg's exclusive post-game Super Bowl victory party in Tampa. Super Steelers were there, partying too. (The photo also appears on Snoop Dogg's website.)



Many of the 350,000 Steelers fans who packed downtown for Tuesday's victory parade have their own photo documentation of the mayor nestling close to celebrity.

A search of fan photos on Flickr creates a virtual flipbook of Quarterback Big Ben and the mayor riding together -- camcorders in hand -- from Grant Street, down the Boulevard of the Allies, and onto the stage at Stanwix. Any parade photo of Roethlisberger is likely also a photo of Ravenstahl.

Photo on Right by Kris Radder
Photos Below by axsdeny@gmail.com
All (cc) Creative Commons

It's been an exciting run for the mayor, from his busy calendar in Tampa to a big splash in Sports Illustrated.



Is it any wonder, then, that Council President Doug Shields (photos with Pittsburgh's own Jeff Goldblum notwithstanding), decided that presiding in Council Chamber is his current calling, and not the Mayor's office?

At last word, Councilman Patrick Dowd was still considering a run for mayor. As I write this, he wasn't answering his cell phone or voice mail to provide an update.

You can click the play button below to hear a bit of what Dowd was saying 28 days ago about challenging Ravenstahl. Of course, a lot can change in 28 days.

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Court Fight Over Maternity Ward Voting Returns

Notes from my Channel 4 Action News report for 11 PM:

NINE EXPECTANT MOMS SUDDENLY HAVING THEIR BABIES WANTED EMERGENCY BALLOTS TO VOTE FROM THEIR MAGEE HOSPITAL BEDS, BUT IT TURNED INTO A COURT FIGHT.

Cliff Levine, Democratic Attorney:
"I think if people understood what was going on in court today, I
think they'd be pretty shocked."

ELECTION PROTECTION AND DEMOCRATIC ATTORNEY VOLUNTEERS WERE SURPRISED THAT REPUBLICAN LAWYERS CHALLENGED AFFIDAVITS FROM MOMS, DOCTORS, AND NURSES, BECAUSE THEY WEREN'T NOTARIZED.

Eileen Yacknin, Activist Attorney:
"(The women are) hospitalized suddenly in Magee right now. They've all asked for the opportunity to obtain emergency absentee ballots in order to be able to vote tonight."

Cliff Levine, Democratic Attorney:
"We have a couple of hours here to get a vote in, and we had nine pregnant women that the Republicans were vociferously arguing to prevent their right to vote. I frankly thing it's outrageous. "

Ron Hicks, Republican Attorney:
"There's got to be certain protections in place, and part of that is, is there really in fact an an emergency. we don't know if there's really an emergency, we're relying on really just paper."

AN ATTORNEY WHO'S ALSO A NOTARY STEPPED UP TO HELP.

Chuck Perego, Attorney & Notary:
"I called my secretary at home, she was kind enough to go to my office and get my notary seal, and she met me at the lobby of Magee Women's Hospital. We went up and interviewed the nurses and had them resign the affidavits."

Q&A with Ron Hicks, Republican Attorney:

Q: "Do you think these women in labor at the hospital were posing as other voters?"

Hicks: "Well, i don't know. i don't know what the circumstances are here."

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Pregnant Emergency Voter Update

The court now has notarized statements from the pregnant women at Magee hospital.
They have to get their ballots to them by 8 pm. It's 7:37 at this writing.

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Sent from my mobile device

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Election cases in court tonight

There are some disputed cases involving some patients in hospitals who want emergency absentee ballots to vote tonight. They include at least one veteran at the VA hospital and some pregnant women who are delivering their babies at Magee and Montefiore Hospitals.

Dems are arguing affidavits signed by doctors or nurses comply with the law. The Republicans are arguing that the document must be notarized.

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Sent from my mobile device

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Part 1: Ravenstahl

Mayor Luke Ravensthal:

Is his 2-to-1 margin of victory enough to ward off challengers in less than two years?


• "My thoughts are focusing on governing. I'm a believer that good government equals good politics, and that's what we'll try to do over the course of the next year. And 2009 will take care of itself when it approaches. But I'm a believer that if we continue to do what's necessary, and deal with the issues that are of importance to the residents, that will all take care of itself."

What he has to say to those residents in the only two wards to go for DeSantis:

• "Focus on this issues. I think if they do that, they'll realize that we have an administration that's working for them. I know, just reading some of their comments, they're focused on perhaps my age and my youth and inexperience. And I understand that, that's part of being a 27 year old mayor. But I just ask them to give me the opportunity over the next two years, and judge us on how we're able to achieve."


The political climate ahead:

• "I anticipate that while we'll focus on government and try to, as I said earlier, talk about the issues that are of importance, the reality is that the May of 2009 primary is, what, 18 months away? So that will always creep into the discussion. But I can tell you that I'm more prepared to handle that type of situation, just based on the last couple of months here."

What he's learned from the mistakes to which he referred in his victory speech:

• "I've learned that every decision that you make is something that is of public record now, and everything you do as mayor is vetted in the light of day. And I'm comfortable with that now. As I mentioned last night, mistakes have been made. We've moved on, we've learned from them. I like to believe that we're a better administration as a result of it, and I'm a better mayor as a result of those decisions over the past 14 months. And it's my hope that those issues are put into the past and we're able to move on an focus on a new day and turn the page, and talk about the issues, and go from there."

On being elected as mayor in his own right:

• "I think that was the most exciting thing for me last night. I never had the opportunity to run for mayor citywide before. This was it, this was the first time. And so, you don't know how voters are going to react to you. To receive the overwhelming support that I did last night was really, really exciting. And it really validated what I believed to be broad support.

On the goodwill of Pittsburghers:

And the people of Pittsburgh have been great from day one here. When I took office they have embraced me. And they've continued to embrace me through some of the tougher times we've had as an administration. And we're grateful for that, and I'm looking forward to hopefully doing good things for them over the next couple of years."

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Part 2: DeSantis

Mark DeSantis:

On the margin of his 2-to-1 loss in Tuesday's election:


• "To get one-third of the vote in a city where it's 5-to-1 democratic is actually quite an accomplishment. Apparently we got one of the highest vote totals as a republican candidate since 1965. So these are accomplishments. We're disappointed. We wanted to win. This race from the beginning was about getting 51 percent."

His role from this point forward?

• "I need to think about that. I'm always going to be involved in public affairs. I love this city. I'm going to be deeply involved in the future of this community, and personally involved. As to whether or not that's political office, I don't know yet."

If he doesn't run again, what would be his advice for the next republican to run for mayor?

• "Start sooner."

• "...I would say, if you are a republican and you're going to run in the city, you can win. It's just going to take more than five months. It's going to take a year of effort."

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Part 3: Peduto

Councilman Bill Peduto:

Do Tuesday's results make it worth it for anyone to get into the 2009 Mayor's race?

• "I think--definitely, in the sense that you couldn't the numbers that DeSantis got, plus the other candidates, without over one-third of the democrats voting for these other candidates. Certainly the numbers are at an historic high for a republican and a historic low for a mayor, a democratic mayor."

• "I have to work with the administration to push an agenda next year on reform. I think that Luke has the opportunity to join me, and to be a partner with me in that. By doing the right thing, I think he's also doing the politically correct thing, because he's taking away issues which could be critical differences."

On cooperation and competition:

• "I have a very advantageous position. I can push an agenda that I think that this city needs. And the mayor is in a position where he--both politically and policy-wise--should be supporting it. So, I think that's going to be the interesting thing to watch in the next year."

• "And I'll tell you this, too. If I do decide to run, I'm going to run without a net. I'm going to give up my council seat and I'll run for mayor and put everything I have into it. And if I lose, I'll be out of politics. But if I choose not to run for mayor, I will run one more time for city council."

When will he have to decide?

• "After the presidential race is over. That said, conversations are always continuing. So, in many ways the race for 2009 has already begun. But in putting together the actual campaign and the structure itself--in 2008."

• "This past year... I had to withdraw when over 4 out of 5 people in the city of Pittsburgh said Luke was the better choice. Those numbers have dropped significantly. What was 4 out of 5 is now less than 2 out of 3. Where's it going to be a year from now? That's what I'll gauge it upon."

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Mayoral Debate: Your Ideas?

Incumbent Luke Ravenstahl and challenger Mark DeSantis will face off in a live, one hour mayoral debate Monday night at 7:00 on WTAE-TV Channel 4.

Video of the Commitment 2007 event will be streamed live on ThePittsburghChannel.com.

WTAE-TV Anchor Sally Wiggin will act as the moderator. I'll be one of the panelists asking questions, along with Channel 4 Action News reporter Sheldon Ingram and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reporter Jeremy Boren.

I'm interested in hearing what issues you'd like the candidates to address during the debate. You can e-mail your ideas to me at bobmayo4 at gmail.com, rather than posting them here as comments.




By the way, at the risk of wading hip-deep into controversy, I prefer "MAYoral" over "maYORal". Merriam-Webster Online has audio links pronouncing it both ways.

You can also read a discussion of this burning issue here. While that author offers some interesting history on the topic, I don't endorse the partisan tone of his critique.

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End of Story?

Peduto Breaks News

Who would have thought it? Controversy over Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's midnight private jet trip was the knockout punch to take Councilman Bill Peduto out of the Democratic party primary.

The councilman insists the big story of the previous 24-hour news cycle is part of what convinced him that if he stayed in the primary campaign, the race could have taken on a divisive focus on controversies instead of on the issues. He says that's why he chose to get out instead.

At the same time, Peduto acknowledges that he's not disbanding his entire campaign team and that he'll continue to accept contributions. By choosing not to be a candidate in the primary, he preserves his right to run as an independent in the fall.

There's one precedent for a Pittsburgh mayoral candidate running sucessfully as an independent against the endorsed Democratic candidate: Dick Caliguiri. But there's also an important difference; Caliguiri, like Ravenstahl, had the advantage of being an incumbent. Caliguiri ascended from council president to become mayor when Pete Flaherty joined the Carter Administration. In his fall race, the power of incumbency likely gave him more clout than his ad-hoc " Pittsburghers for Caliguiri" party.

(Am I dating myself here? I was just getting started in radio news back then. I remember the endorsed mayoral candidate, Tom Foerster, giving a gracious concession speech the night he lost to Caliguiri... as his campaign manager, Dr. Cyril Wecht fumed: "other people may forget what Dick Caliguiri did here; I will not forget.)

There's already a debate under way in the blogosphere over whether withdrawing from the primary race now preserves Peduto's right to run in the fall. His answers to my questions during his news conference suggest that he believes it does give him that option.

Even if Peduto should opt not to run in November, getting out now may benefit him later. Any campaign funds raised this year and not spent would provide him a financial base to become the leading challenger in 2009.

One more thought: Bill Peduto was a staffer to former Councilman Dan Cohen, who was once regarded as a potential rising star. Cohen bucked the party and mounted a challenge to incumbent Congressman Bill Coyne which included some sharply negative direct-mail campaigning. Cohen lost, and his luster may have been tarnished by the reaction to that negative campaign. He is now in private law practice. Perhaps Councilman Peduto is taking insight from the experience of his mentor.

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Controversy Over Mayor Ravenstahl's Online Presence (Updated)

Whose Space?

(There's updated blog content later in this entry. )

It's been buzzing-about in the burghosphere for the past 48 hours, here, here, and here, for example. Some people are raising questions about what appears to be cross-pollination between the content of "Luke For Mayor" website and the official city website and photo gallery. Now the examples are quickly being removed.

The PG's Early Returns appears to be be the first of us in the mainstream media to publicly note it, albeit online. (Update 1: I stand corrected: The Trib has it here, and in the print edition. ) I've been tracking this, but the arena news of the past two days had taken precedence. My screenshot below is one example.

(Click on photo to enlarge.)

UPDATE 2:

Here are some items gathered for this story which didn't make it into my Channel 4 Action News report, due to time constraints. (Video link here).

Quotes from Mayor Luke Ravenstahl:

• "I shared those concerns, and made sure when I was made aware of it that that wasn't the case. And any questionable photos--from what I understand--that were on the campaign web site have been removed."

Q: Did he or the city provide the photos to the campaign?

• "No, absolutely not. And I'm not sure if they were the identical photos. Once again, we and I have stressed again this morning that (there should be) absolutely no interaction between government office and campaign-- made sure that that didn't happen, and it hasn't happened, and it will not happen in the future."

• "(I) made sure that it was handled right away. Certainly it's not something that I will condone, and (it's )something that unfortunately happened, and we dealt with it and moved on."

Quotes from Councilman Bill Peduto:

• "There are rules that you have to play by, and certainly there's a lot of powers in the incumbency, without really reaching into the wallets of taxpayers in order to fund your campaign."

• "...it seems to be a little bit of an abuse of power."

Q: Does the list of his "priorities for a new Pittsburgh" on his city council website amount to political content at taxpayer expense? He answers that the list dates back to early 2006, long before the current political campaign.

• "No, it's a message of here's 'why you elected me, here's what i'm going to fight for, here's what you hold me accountable for'."

Footnote:

• One of the sequence of photos on the city government home page shows the mayor marching in a parade in front of a banner with a blue-and-white logo that reads " Luke Ravenstahl, Mayor". (You can see it at the top of this blog post.) The same distinctive blue-and-white logo appears on signs posted in his campaign headquarters' window.

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New Pittsburgh Politics Online

A snapshot of the "Luke for Mayor" site

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's campaign website has come alive. It's just one of three fronts that Ravenstahl supporters have engaged online. In addition to the campaign website, there are now:


•YouTube postings of Ravenstahl campaign ads,

•a blog by Matt H, one of the mayor's more vocal online supporters.




Jeremy Boren of the Trib did a story about YouTube video and the mayor's race, which inspired me to revisit the topic here.







During my scanning of local blogs, I came across some posts by a college student who blogs under the name Agent Ska. She identifies herself as the one who shot video of Mayor Luke Ravenstahl at local democratic committee meetings and posted it on YouTube under the name PittsburghDemocracy.


It was obvious in her posts here and here that she was wrestling with the media attention her YouTube video had drawn, and whether it was meant to suggest she had edited the video in a way that had distorted its meaning. She makes it clear in her blog that she is an active Peduto supporter; Jeremy Boren writes that "video clips submitted by the user PittsburghDemocracy try to catch Ravenstahl saying something controversial or embarrassing". While that clearly is the case--and while anti-Ravenstahl bloggers have highlighted the video--the clip itself appears unaltered.

Since Agent Ska is a student and not used to the media spotlight, I recently sent her the following e-mail to answer the questions she had been posting about our coverage.

Dear Agent Ska,

Please don't feel that our doing a story about your YouTube video was meant to suggest that you did anything to alter your video's content. Your clip from the committee meeting started with the question from the audience and continued with the mayor's answer for a minute-and-a-half. That's longer than many TV news reports. I didn't see any editing in your clip that would suggest "inaccuracies"; it was raw video.

The starting point of our WTAE story was that the mayor made the remark, it was now on the 'net, and people were talking about it. It was generating comments on local blogs. My question to the mayor was not about how your video was cut, it was a question about what his "boss" remark meant; he described as a being a joke.

It was the mayor--not me--who said "If the clip would have continued, you would have seen Dan was the next to speak". In my story, we followed your clip with our photographer's video because it offered a different camera angle. Our photographer was shooting wide during the mayor's comment, and was in a position to zoom in to Onorato for his reaction. Your original YouTube clip itself did include the mayor's complete answer, in which he said that he's pressing for continued bus service in city neighborhoods.

The mayor told me that he hadn't seen your YouTube clip himself; I think his comments were in response to what people had been saying about their interpretation of the significance of the clip.

I know from reading your posts that you're politically active, but I haven't seen anything in your raw video clip to suggest it was altered in any way. It appears to be the entire exchange, from start-of-question to end-of-answer.

Your taking the time to go out, gather, sort through, and upload all of your video reminds me of my college and early radio days of working with audio-- an unpaid labor of love. I think you deserve credit for working hard at it and caring about what you do. The fact that you went out of your way to dig up the Onorato video and post that on YouTube too is testimony to that.

I'm sending you this as an e-mail, but if you'd like, I'll post it on my blog. Let me know.

Best Wishes,

Bob Mayo

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Face Off: Peduto & Ravenstahl on the Pens

Reporter Q&A
on the arena talks impasse

I’m posting this as a long-form Question & Answer feature; my Channel 4 Action News report is based on this material. Some questions were off-mike, and are approximated here. The answers are direct quotes. Click the highlighted "Read More" immediately below.


Q&A with Councilman Bill Peduto

Q: Who's at fault in the latest developments?

"Well, obviously, the fault goes to the mayor. You know, when Tom Murphy negotiated the deal for the Pirates, when he negotiated the deal for the Steelers, when he built the convention center, he didn't go to Governor Ridge and ask Governor Ridge to take on the responsibility. when Rendell ran Philadelphia and built the stadium for the Flyers, he didn't go to Governor Ridge. The responsibility is with the mayor. In any american city with any sports franchise, the mayor takes on that responsibility. What we're seeing now is the lack of experience in the inability to get this deal done."

Q: Under their plan, the state and slots revenue would be the source of the funding. given that, wouldn't it be appropriate for the governor to take the lead?

" Still under Philadelphia, there was state money that was being used to build the Spectrum. And Heinz Field, and with PNC Park, there was state money to build those; or the convention center, obviously, a lot of state money. No. Leadership requires that a mayor be strong and be able to get a deal done. "

Q: So, what specifically and personally are you saying that Luke Ravenstahl should be doing that he's not doing now?

" Well, there's of couple things. First and foremost, he needs to sit down with the Penguins, sit down down with Mario and get this deal done. No more negotiating with three different parties--just get the deal done. Secondly, what lost the trust with the trust with the Penguins to begin with is when left the agreement with Isle of Capri to support Plan B, and somehow that trust has to be rebuilt."

" I'm willing to offer to mediate in order to get this done for the City of Pittsburgh. But I don't think the mayor will take me up on the offer because of politics, and that's unfortunate. The team trusts me, and knows that I will negotiate in good faith with them. And I know that we can get a deal done that will be better than Kansas City."

Q: Do see any fault at all with the Penguins here? Are the Penguins playing with these public officials to try to get more taxpayer money?

" You get to the point of an impasse, there's no more playing or negotiating that's going on. You're basically saying you're at the point where you cannot talk any further. The Penguins have nothing more to gain. They're adding more into it. And the concern of "well, just let them go' is a major concern, and we shouldn't really be looking at it in that way. If the Penguins leave, there is no new arena. There is no major tenant to be contributing. And we're going to set with an empty arena in the Hill District that is not going to spur any new development. "

Q: And you individually fault Mayor Ravenstahl for a personal lack of leadership?

" No, I think that what you're seeing now is what happens when you don't have somebody who has experience. This should have been led by the mayor from the beginning. This should have been continued by the mayor in order to get the job done. But the mayor was not prepared because he hasn't had the experience to do it in the past."

Q: Have you reached out to the Penguins yourself?

" Yes, and I've reached out again yesterday to their former lobbyist. The Penguins have had no communication with elected officials, other than the mayor, the county executive and the governor since the beginning of the year. And again, I reached out, and I'll reach out again today directly to help to mediate this."


Q&A with Mayor Luke Ravenstahl

Q: Your response?

" We are continuing to negotiate, myself, the county executive, and the governor. And we're going to continue to work with the Penguins., and I will be very active in those talks, as I have been from the beginning. And I believe a cooperative spirit is one that we need-- a cooperative spirit to sit down and have those discussions. And I'll continue to do that, and continue to lend myself to those discussions as I have over the last two months. "

Q: Are you talking directly to the Penguins, as Mr. Peduto says you should be-- that the failure of you to do that is what's putting this franchise at risk?

" I can tell you that I've had numerous discussions and will continue to do so. I'm not real sure what my opponent is referring to, but I've been very proactive in these discussions. In fact, took a trip to New York, earlier in January to have discussions. So I'm not real sure what he is referring to, but we've been very proactive and I've been involved in all the discussions and will continue to do so."

" This is a partnership. I do not agree with the notion that this is an issue that the mayor singlehandedly address. This is an issue that myself, the county executive, and the governor have to work together to achieve. And to suggest otherwise, I don't think is appropriate. And so I'll continue to work with those two to reach out to the Penguins, and ultimately reach a deal."

" Because no one of us--myself, the county executive, nor the governor--can do this alone."

Q: What he's saying is, why haven't you talked directly to Burkle, why haven't you talked directly to Mario Lemeiux?

" Well, I can tell you that I have."

Q: What is the difference betwween now and the negotations that led to Heinz Field and PNC Park, that make it appropriate for the governor to be the lead party here, as opposed to the mayor?

" I will tell you, and I think the governor has made this well known, that he has, since the original Plan B, added incentive, and that incentive has come from the state level. And so, without the governor at the table, there's absolutely no way that we could even be in the discussions to keep the Penguins here. So, the governor is the person that has provided the additional incentive to keep team here. And therefore, he is the leader in these negotiations, because it is state taxpayer dollars that are being offered. and so the governor has to be at the table, and the governor is the one ultimately that has to participate in these negotiationsand --ideally with myself and the county executive, through the SEA-- conclude this deal. So, to suggest that there would be one person that could do it without the other two, I just think is inappropriate, and really not applicable at this time."

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Update On The Mayor's Race Debates

"Commitment 2007"

The Peduto campaign e-mailed a news release on Tuesday noting that
--a week after his initial challenge-- no televised debates have yet been scheduled in the race for mayor. The campaign also released the text of a letter from Councilman Peduto to Mayor Ravenstahl, dated Monday, February 26. In the letter, Peduto invites Ravenstahl to a debate at Sunday's City Democratic Committee meeting, prior to the endorsement vote.

Background

My report on Channel 4 Action News at Six, on February 19th, 2007:

"Mayor Luke Ravenstahl often invokes the name and memory of the late Bob O'Connor."

"But tonight, it's Councilman Bill Peduto who's doing it."

"He wants to have mayoral debates on TV––and plenty of them. Peduto say's it's what Bob O'Connor would do. In fact, looking back to 2005, he says it's what Bob O'Connor did do, as you see in this file video of a debate here in the WTAE studios during the last campaign. With 84 days left before the spring primary, Mayor Ravenstahl's fellow democrat wants eight on-air face offs on the issues."

"Councilman Bill Peduto told me 'Bob and I understood the importance of getting the message out to the people and doing it, not through sound bites, but through standing and debating the issues. And I'm hoping that Luke will join me in having a series of eight televised debates, just like Bob O'Connor and I did.'"

"Mayor Luke Ravenstahl responded, saying 'my initial reaction is, I'd be happy to participate in all the network debates, and be happy to do that. The difference, I would argue now, between myself and that year, is: I'm the mayor now. We have a lot of responsibilities on a day-to-day basis to run the city. But I would be happy to make myself available.'"


"Channel 4 Action News took Peduto up on his call. We've issued offers to both candidates to debate on WTAE-TV. So far, we've heard back from Peduto, who has formally accepted. We're awaiting a formal answer back from the Ravenstahl campaign. Informally, the mayor expressed to me his interest in debating here on WTAE."

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The Race For Mayor Warms Up Online

An e-mail news release arrived at 7:14 this morning announcing “Peduto Launches Interactive Cyber Campaign”.

This new Peduto site has links to MySpace and Facebook incarnations, and offers a blog and YouTube videos. It will be interesting to see how quickly the Ravenstahl site responds with new content.

Both Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Councilman Bill Peduto have had what I’d describe as placeholder websites for some time.

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‘On The Grand Jury Beat’ & Other Reporter Notes

Okay, it doesn’t look like this––

but it felt like it at the time.

(Grand Jury investigations are protracted, complex, and difficult for everyone involved. By their nature, they are secret. Nonetheless, news organizations are obliged to cover them when their focus may involve some aspect of government. This post intends no disrespect for those who face dealing with this legal process. If anything, it's intended as a self-deprecating look at what's sometimes involved for reporters in covering it.)

I spent much of my day on Tuesday patrolling the halls of federal court, covering Sheriff Deputy Gim Yee's appearance before the grand jury. This sort of thing is always an odd and interesting experience. Reporters from most news organizations in town sit or stand outside the room where subpoenaed witnesses are to appear. We alternate between cell phone conversations––whispered out of earshot––and the small talk you'd hear in any workplace. When the door opens, you never know who will exit. Once it was an FBI agent, whom I greeted with "just like old times"––a reference to media stakeouts during the Wecht and Sheriff's office investigations.

When Deputy Sheriff Yee and his attorney Mark Lancaster suddenly appeared in the hallway, they briskly walked through the middle of the media camp-out. Reporters scrambled: simultaneously calling out questions to the men, phoning to alert the photographers who must wait in the breezy cold out on Grant Street, and calculating which of several routes the pair might take to exit the building.

Yee and Lancaster power-walked toward the far end of the long hallway, suggesting they were heading for the elevators which would deposit them a block down the street from the photographers.

Then at the elevator bank, they made a sharp turn to the left and through the doors of a stairwell. At least one reporter still took an elevator, hoping to get ahead of them and warn the photographers. The rest of us quickly followed down the steps. Would they walk down seven floors? It was looking like it. I called after them as we followed, "Would you gentlemen be willing to stop and talk with us, once we're outside?" Lancaster answered "no". "Would you recommend stair-walking as part of a cardiovascular fitness program?" A chuckle came from Lancaster, but no firm endorsement.

When we reached the second floor, they left the stairwell and appeared to be heading for the U.S. Marshall's office. On this floor, they reversed field, heading down this second long hallway in a direction completely opposite their path on the seventh floor. They would exit where the photographers were waiting, after all.

Or not. In the end, the attorney and the witness left federal court via a loading dock at the rear of the building. When reporters and photographers converged on them, it was at the corner of 7th and Grant, as they prepared to cross the intersection. That's where the on-camera exchange of questions and "no comment" you saw on the news took place.











Some random notes:

•Mackenzie Carpenter of the Post-Gazette has a story that sets the scene for monitoring local campaign web sites. LukeForMayor.com still appears to be a placeholder for things to come; its only link is a form for contacting the campaign. A check of BillPeduto.com this morning shows it has no links at all yet.

•Readers are still posting comments about the recent intersection of local blogging and mainstream media coverage of the Ravenstahl incident. You can click here to read the latest, including my response to some anonymous posters.

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