In case you're interested, full ACDC Endorsement List is here

First, a few notes on the Allegheny County Democratic Committee endorsement vote which was held yesterday.

Certainly the ACDC stamp of approval no longer holds the sway it once did. Candidates can win their elections without it and some no longer even seek the endorsement (see Mayor Bill Peduto).

The biggest headline to come out of the vote was the nod to Mark Patrick Flaherty over sitting incumbent Chelsa Wagner for Allegheny County Controller. Flaherty was Wagner's predecessor, and, because this is Allegheny County/Pittsburgh, Flaherty is the son of a former county commissioner and nephew of a former Pittsburgh mayor, while Wagner is the daughter of a former longtime chairman of the 19th Ward and niece of a former state auditor general. Meh.

And, while I'm no big fan of Wagner's, did the vote against her have to come on International Women's Day? Which just points to the fact that out of the 34 people ACDC endorsed, only eight were women.

This also leads to the following note from Kris Rust posted on Facebook by his husband, Pittsburgh Magisterial District Judge Hugh McGough, who did not win endorsement for Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas:

This weekend, the Allegheny County Labor Council and the Allegheny County Democratic Committee endorsed a slate of three straight, white men from the Pittsburgh suburbs as judicial candidates for the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, passing over distinguished women and minority candidates, including Hugh (yes, LGBT people comprise a minority group). 

The integrity and legitimacy of our government and our courts depends upon them reflecting the diversity of our citizenry. Yet, two-thirds of the judges on the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas are straight, white men. While we are grateful to all of the folks who have supported Hugh throughout this endorsement process, I am disappointed that the majority of Labor Council and Democratic Committee members fail to recognize the value and importance of superlative credentials and diversity on the bench. Now I am ready to “rage against the machine!”

(If you'd like to help Hugh McGough's campaign--and I hope you do--his website is here.)

Another person who I would have liked to have been endorsed is Natalia Rudiak (though I have to admit that I don't know if she sought the endorsement). Rudiak is running for Pittsburgh City Controller and the only negative thing I can say about her is I would miss her on City Council. Her campaign website is here and her kickoff party is tomorrow.

Lastly, I hope that no one reading this takes the slate cards mailed out too much to heart. It's a real shame, but I'm guessing that too many people do rely on them, especially when voting for judges.

(Endorsement list is after the fold.)

Marty, Her Name's NATALIA, Not NATASHA

I guess I've been listening to too much Marty Griffin at work.  For those not in the area or otherwise wouldn't know, Marty's the morning voice of KDKA radio in Pittsburgh.

I've written about him before.

I don't want you to get the wrong impression.  Marty does do some completely cool things.  During this (and the last) period of intensely cold arctic weather, he's done an awful lot to get help to people who need but can't afford it (getting broken furnaces fixed and so on) and that's nothing but good.

On the other hand, that doesn't (or at least shouldn't) excuse his many embarrassing faults.  For example, when he repeatedly mis-characterized this NYTimes editorial and said that the Times was looking for a pardon for Edward Snowden when the editorial clearly called for "a plea bargain or some form of clemency".

Or when he repeatedly referred to Chelsea Manning on the same day as "Mr. Bradley."

This time, he's gone local with his particular brand of...I don't even know what to call it.  Griffinism?  Mid-morn KD-crazie? Marty-Malarkey?

I'll have to think on which one.

You see, he's up in arms over City Councilwoman Natalia Rudiak.

You might ask why I put her first name in bold italics.  I did that because Marty doesn't seem to be able to get her first name right - even when being corrected by callers on the air.  He insists on calling her "Natasha" while undermining her position in city government by using terms like "so called city leader."

Perhaps Marty should read the news sometime.  Perhaps if he did, he'd see that Natalia Rudiak won her seat in 2013 with just under 75% of the vote.

But let's get to what's really irking Marty.  It's this hearing:

Responding to concerns about dirt bikes recklessly racing through City neighborhoods and illegally cutting across both public and private property, Councilwoman Rudiak has called for a public hearing and a post agenda meeting in City Council, to take place on Wednesday, January 22, 2014, to bring together residents and City and State officials to discuss the current road-legal status of these vehicles and police enforcement of noise and speeding laws.

Marty didn't see the reason for the hearing.  He'd never heard of any problem with dirt bikes so it mustn't be a real issue.

Perhaps if he'd been watching his own TV station in June he'd have known that there's an issue.  This is from well known issue fabricator (and I mean that ironically) Ralph Iannotti:

Pittsburgh City Councilwoman Natalia Rudiak says for whatever reason, perhaps the warm weather, the city is seeing “a lot more complaints about dirt biking on streets and sidewalks.”

Two city neighborhoods where complaints are on the rise: Carrick and Knoxville.

Zone 3 Police Officer Christine Luffey told KDKA’s Ralph Iannotti that she believes most bikers don’t have licenses, are driving unregistered vehicles and have no insurance.

A Kirk Avenue block watch captain, Donna Williams, last Sunday was on her front porch and shot home video of dirt bikers zooming though the neighborhood, weaving on the streets and sidewalks.

The dirt bikes bothered Ms Williams so much she circulated a petition, gathered about 125 names on it, and submitted it to the City Clerk's office in early November.  I am told that it was the petition itself triggered the hearing - not any decision by Councilwoman Natalia (see how easy that is, Marty?) Rudiak.

He's also ranting about the councilwoman's support of the Thanksgiving day protest at the Capital Grille downtown, though he gets the facts wrong on that one as well.  He repeatedly said the workers were protesting because they didn't want to work on Thanksgiving.

But the Will of the Council sees things a little differently:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Council of the City of Pittsburgh stands with workers to protect our collective rights from corporate encroachment, especially since other large corporations like Costco, Nordstrom, Burlington Coat Factory, and more have publicly confirmed their commitment to respecting workers, families, and our society by remaining closed on Thanksgiving; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Council of the City of Pittsburgh does hereby oppose the Darden Corporation's choice to force Capital Grille's employees to work on Thanksgiving and to do so without holiday pay; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Council of the City of Pittsburgh supports the employees of Capital Grille and the Restaurant Opportunities Center of Pittsburgh as they speak up together to advocate for fair standards in the restaurant industry.

Wait - Darden wanted all those people to work Thanksgiving without holiday pay??  That's what the protest was about?  But Marty said all those people didn't want to work on Thanksgiving.  Turns out they were protesting (among other things) Darden's choice to withhold holiday pay on that most American of holidays. 

Marty, you do some very good things with the 50,000 watts KDKA gives you every weekday morning. 

Getting all the facts straight isn't one of them.

It just isn't.

Get Out And Vote!

 

With Lil Mayor Luke so nonexistent he's practically a UPMC employee, our city craves a real leader: One with a clear vision, real ideas, a belief in community engagement, and who is bursting to get to work. This has led to the extraordinary circumstance of the conservative Tribune-Review and the middle-of-the-road Post-Gazette finally catching up to what progressives have long known: Bill Peduto is the best choice for Mayor of Pittsburgh. Now it's time that we get out and give him the mandate he deserves. We also need to make sure he has a City Council who will work together with him to make Pittsburgh the city we know it can be.

 

This half of 2pj endorses:

 

Bill Peduto for Mayor of the City of Pittsburgh

Natalia Rudiak for City Council, District 4

Deb Gross for City Council, District 7

Dan Gilman for City Council, District 8

Eleanor Bush for Common Pleas Court

Jack McVay Jr. for Superior Court

 

Marty B. O’Malley for Mayor of Forest Hills Borough

*** Obligatory Disclaimer: As everyone should know by now, I've been working part-time for People For Peduto since 2010



Keystone Analytics Poll Shows Peduto Ahead by Double Digits

Via Keystone Analytics:

Current Councilman Bill Peduto appears strongest out of the gate polling the highest among five potential candidates tested. Peduto, along with City Controller Michael Lamb, both have very strong name recognition with these voters but Peduto’s recognition translates to actual support with 30 percent of likely Democratic Primary voters saying they would vote for him if the election were held today.

Jack Wagner gets 20%, Lamb comes in at 13% and Jim Ferlo and Darlene Harris are in the single digits.

In other good news for Peduto, he was endorsed today by three elected officials from Pittsburgh's southern neighborhoods: PA State Rep. Erin C. Molchany, Pittsburgh City Councilor Natalia Rudiak and Pittsburgh City Councilor Bruce Kraus.

Additionally, Peduto announced he hit a half million dollars in donations this week.

Maybe Peduto is doing so well because he has actual ideas and "political imagination."


*** Obligatory Disclaimer: As everyone should know by now, I've been working part-time for People For Peduto since 2010.

Lamar Advertises for Lamar, Uses Image from City Website

Pittsburgh City Counselors Natalia Rudiak and Darlene Harris have cosponsored a proposal to create a 10% tax on billboard rentals which they say could raise a couple of million dollars a year towards purchasing new police cars. (Philadelphia and other PA towns have a similar tax.)

Here's Lamar's response:

(Via Facebook)

(Via http://twitpic.com/b52ep2)

In the Pittsburgh City Paper, Harris rightly notes that the Rudiak sign is "very misleading," since it implies that Rudiak is proposing to raise taxes on everyone, rather than on a select industry."

Rudiak comments:

Although one thing about the billboard did strike her as odd: Lamar, she says, apparently took the photo of her from the city's website. "But in the original photo, my dress was red."

Here's the image from the City of Pittsburgh website:

Here's a detail from Lamar's ad for Lamar:

How does Lamar get to use an image from the City of Pittsburgh website anyway in an ad that means to profit Lamar? They obviously did not pay for the image -- I'm assuming either the City or Rudiak did.

And, how the hell does this company from Louisiana constantly insert itself into the politics of this city???

Quote of the Day

The quote of the day goes to Pittsburgh City Councilor Natalia Rudiak commenting in today's Post Agenda meeting on the difficulty registered voters in Pennsylvania are facing going through PennDOT trying to get ID which complies with the new PA Voter ID law:

"PennDOT is not the Dept. of Voting, it's not the Dept. of Democracy."

ABC News did a story yesterday which backs her up. It begins with this:

Two government offices, three hour-long lines, two 78-mile trips, two week-long waiting periods, four forms of identity and two signed affidavits later, Pennsylvanians will be allowed to vote.

Press Conference and Hearing about the Pennsylvania Voter ID Law

Via press release:

City Councilor Natalia Rudiak Rallies Citywide Groups to Fight Against Voter Suppression

Pittsburgh-- On Wednesday, September 12, 2012, Councilwoman Rudiak will host a press conference and hearing regarding Act 18 of 2012, the Pennsylvania “Voter ID” Law. Speakers will provide national and historic context on this law, as well as an explanation of what Pennsylvanians need in order to vote in November’s election, and how to get it.

What: Press Conference and Hearing about the Pennsylvania Voter ID Law
Date: Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Time: 12:45 PM
Where: City Council Chambers, 414 Grant Street, 5th Floor

Invited guests include:

ACLU

Pittsburgh United

Black Political Empowerment Project

Alliance of Retired Americans

Epilepsy Foundation

City residents impacted by new law

“Our democracy should not be a confusing, bureaucratic nightmare.” Rudiak said. “Unfortunately, I have heard from a number of residents across the city who want to vote, as they always have, but are not sure if they will be stopped at the polls this November 6. We need to move forward with real election reform, and leave costly partisan attempts to disenfranchise voters in the history books, where they belong.”

Though an estimated 100,000 registered voters in Allegheny County do not have PennDOT issued photo identification cards, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has budgeted funding for only 75,000 “free” voter ID cards statewide.

Watch live at http://pittsburgh.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=2  or on Channel 44 on Verizon (Channel 13 on Comcast???)

Sightings of the Extremely Rare Female PA Pol

Did you know that Pennsylvania ranks 47th in the nation in terms of female representation and participation in politics? Public Source takes a look at three of these rare birds in Southwestern PA: Pittsburgh City Councilor Natalia Rudiak, prominent Republican Elsie Hillman and Braddock Borough Council President Tina Doose. The slideshow is by Martha Rial who I had the pleasure of sharing a panel with on new media at CMU earlier this year. (If you'd like to up the odds, please help out Erin Molchany's campaign here.)

Councilwoman Rudiak to Meet President Obama at the White House

Speaking of Rudiak, via press release:

Pittsburgh – City Councilwoman Natalia Rudiak will travel to Washington, D.C. Friday to meet with members of the Obama administration and attend an intimate reception with the President to discuss important issues facing states and cities across the country.

“The President has been a steadfast ally of cities in America, but our main streets need help and Republicans in Congress have done nothing but force cut after cut to cities like Pittsburgh,” said Rudiak.

“We’ve seen cuts to programs that help Pittsburgh with our police protection, street paving, building demolition, youth job programs, economic development, the capital budget, and much more, and I’m looking forward to speaking with the President about how we can restore these programs.”

The Councilwoman will speak with the President about Pittsburgh’s support for public safety grant programs, the Community Development Block Grant program, renewing the Build America Bonds program, and speeding up federal reimbursements to the City. All of these issues have a significant impact on the City’s operations.

Rudiak is meeting with Obama as a member of People for the American Way Foundation’s Young Elected Officials Network.
.

Bloggers On Parade!

That would be Bram Reichbaum of The Pittsburgh Comet appearing before Pittsburgh City Council in his capacity working for Councilwoman Theresa Kail-Smith and her anti adult entertainment legislation.


That would be once upon a time blogger and current staffer for Councilman Bruce Kraus, Matt "H" Hogue; Councilwoman Natalia Rudiak; and Ken Wolfe, Legislative Aide to State Rep. Jake Wheatley, celebrating Matt's birthday.
.

Pittsburgh City Council to proclaim respect for public workers today

Via the AFLCIO:

IN THE FACE OF ANTI-PUBLIC WORKER LEGISLATIVE FIGHTS IN WISCONSIN AND OHIO, PITTSBURGH CITY COUNCIL TAKES A STAND

Council members and Pittsburgh public workers to hold preview of proclamation honoring public workers before Council vote

Pittsburgh, Penn. – On Tuesday, February 22, 2011, at 9:30 AM, Councilmember Natalia Rudiak will preview a proclamation co-sponsored by all nine City Councilmembers expressing support and respect for public workers prior to the Pittsburgh City Council’s regular weekly meeting where it will be on the agenda. Council Member Rudiak and other Councilmembers will be joined by a variety of public workers including firefighters, bus drivers, snow plow drivers, school crossing guards and others for the preview.

The proclamation comes at a time when public workers are under attack in state legislatures across the county, targeted by right-wing and corporate political committees funded by nearly unlimited and undisclosed corporate cash, seeking to roll back collective bargaining rights and half-a-century of labor reforms.

“The right-wing assault on public workers grossly misrepresents facts and tries to lay blame for budget deficits and pension problems at the feet of dedicated public servants who come to work everyday and do their jobs delivering the services that keep us safer, healthier and contribute to the vital functions of government that serve the public good”, said Jack Shea, President of the Allegheny County Labor Council.

“On Tuesday, we will stand in solidarity, not just with the public workers in Pittsburgh, but with all public workers in America, especially our brothers and sisters under attack this week in Wisconsin and Ohio,” Shea added.

What: Preview of Respect our Public Workers Proclamation

Who: Councilmember Natalia Rudiak and colleagues, public workers from a variety of departments and trades, Jack Shea, President of the Allegheny County Labor Council.

Where: 5th Floor, City-County Building, outside of City Council Chambers

When: Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 9:30 AM

If you can, you should be watching this

Councilor Natalia Rudiak is on my teevee right now really going at Public Safety and Emergency Management Director Michael Huss for not responding to her seven invitations to speak to her without cameras present.

:-D

Exactly how many birthdays does Lil Mayor Luke have each year?

Pittsburgh City Councilwoman Natalia Rudiak sent seven invitations (on March 10th, March 29th, April 7th, April 9th, April 16th, April 19th, and April 21st) to Public Safety Director Michael Huss to speak to City Council's snow task force and each one went unanswered.

We figure he must have had a pretty good reason to ignore them all. Prior engagements? Maybe he was busy partying out of town on those days with Lil Mayor Luke -- just like he was when Pittsburgh got hit with Snowpocalypse back in February.

Of course we actually know that Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Huss have actively discouraged (ordered?) city officials not to meet with Rudiak's snow emergency task force (cause, you know, Lukey is conducting his own investigation...of himself).

Fortunately, Councilor Rudiak takes her job seriously and has the huevos to carry out her mission. So she issued a subpoena to compel Huss to appear before Council under her authority according to the Pittsburgh City Charter:

§ 808. SUBPOENA POWER.
In any case where an elected official, officer, or unit of government has the power to conduct public hearings the elected official, officer or unit of government shall have the authority to issue subpoenas for the attendance of witness and to compel testimony and the production of documents and other evidence. The subpoena shall issue in the name of the City and shall be signed by the elected official, officer or presiding officer of the unit of government. Any witness who refuses to obey a subpoena, or who refuses to testify under oath or affirmation, may be cited for contempt in any Court of Common Pleas having jurisdiction.

Rudiak stated in a press release yesterday, "One of the biggest problems during the snow storm was a lack of communication and coordination between government offices. If we can't communicate about an emergency, how can we be expected to communicate during an emergency?"

Huss' response? Via the Post-Gazette:

Mr. Huss later said he'd be happy to appear before council and will bring the police, fire and EMS chiefs with him.

He said he never objected to a public discussion of the matter but didn't believe a "closed-door" session with Ms. Rudiak would benefit the public or improve emergency response.

Mr. Huss said he'll attend the council meeting even though city Solicitor Dan Regan concluded the subpoena was invalid because it came from one council member instead of the whole body.

Uh-huh. Yeah, right, whatever. Damn straight you'll show up.

Councilor Rudiak had a more gracious reply (than mine) to Huss' new spirit of "cooperation" (via another press release):

"I am heartened with the Director’s decision to finally meet with us, and I look forward to speaking with him about how we can better protect our City, our employees and our residents in a future emergency."

But, she also had an excellent question:

"The real question is why we must resort to a subpoena to speak with our own Emergency Management Director. We should all be able to share ideas and information in a productive and objective manner."

You'd think...

Pittsburgh City Councilors Walk The Line

Via Jennifer England:


Natalia Rudiak

Doug Shields
Bruce Kraus


SEIU cafeteria workers (Local 32BJ) at the University of Pittsburgh are striking against Sodexo for "higher wages, lower cost health care and the ability to organize the 150 other Sodexo workers on campus."

According to England's tweets UFCW23, Pittsburgh Faith Impact, Pittsburgh United, Pennsylvania Communities Organizing for Change (PCOC) and others were also in the house...or on the street as it were.

Councilwoman Rudiak to lead task force on City's performance during snow emergency

Via Councilor Rudiak's office:

(Pittsburgh) – Pittsburgh City Councilwoman Natalia Rudiak today was named to lead a task force convened by Council President Darlene Harris to look into the City's performance during the current snow emergency. The task force will be tasked with investigating, reporting key findings, and making recommendations on how the City can better administer its emergency operation systems in the future, with a specific eye toward snow emergencies.

“Four days after the storm there are still thousands of people across our City who are snowed in,” said Rudiak. “People are angry that it is taking so long to get power restored and streets cleared, and there needs to be accountability.”

The task force will initially convene later this week to begin its review. Until then, City Council will focus on helping the Mayor’s Emergency Operation Center with constituent calls. Once the snow emergency is over, the task force will begin a full review.

“We want to make sure we can dig out of this storm before we start getting too academic. We are in an emergency and we need to be focused on that right now,” Rudiak said.

.

Harris announces some Chairs

President Pro Tempore: Theresa Kail Smith

Standing Committee Chairs:

Finance and Law: Bill Peduto (Peduto retains Chair)

Public Safety Services: Theresa Kail Smith (formally Kraus)

Public Works: Bruce Kraus

Land Use and Economic Development: Doug Shields (formally Burgess)

General and Government Services: Natalia Rudiak (formally Motznik)

Others TBA
.

Big Election Wrap-up

I think that we can all agree that City Council victories by Natalia Rudiak and Robert Daniel Lavelle do not bode well for Lil Mayor Luke or his coattails.

Change Lukey would rather not believe in:

Bram's interview with Matt Merriman-Preston, political consultant to Natalia Rudiak (& Chelsa Wagner & Bill Peduto), is definitely worth a look. (And, as I'm sure Matt knows by now Lil Mayor Luke did not break 60%.)

That Dastardly Dowd refuses to apologize to Pittsburgh's Favorite Grandson.

For the junkies who like to obsess over numbers, graphs and maps there's Allegheny County's web site, Chris Briem's last few posts at Null Space, Pitt's map and the Post-Gazette's ward map.

There's a discussion on the "power of the blogosphere" as pertains to elections in the comments section of this Slag Heap post. IMHO, the blogosphere in general can be used to raise awareness, to raise funds, to move the conversation and occasionally to actually make news. All of this is more likely to occur on the national level where you can have a viral effect -- not so much here with Pittsburgh's older demographic. That said, as Pittsburgh's MSM (print anyway) tends to read the blogs, it's probably easiest here to make the news (as in the case of the Smith Liar Flier or MacYapper's Opie in handcuffs story).

In those same comments, Potter makes the point that, "In the case of district 2, my guess would be that your door-knocking for Blotzer did more to help her than anything anyone posted online."

Here, I'm in agreement. but I'll add that having someone work the polls can be a big asset as well. Case in point would be Hugh McGough's performance in the 16th Ward. While precincts 3 - 13 pretty much had the same results as his overall unfortunate performance (cause who'd want to vote for someone for judge who was highly recommended by the Bar and endorsed by both the P-G and the Trib...). However, in precincts 1 and 2 where there was a poll watcher (and inattentive Committee folk) he came in second and third respectively. Don't know if someone clued Don Walko that a majority of voters were walking in with McGough flyers or if he went to all the polls, but he and his wife came running over with more yard signs.

Speaking of 16-1, at least a couple of registered Democrats complained that when they went to vote, the screen gave them no choices for mayor and only offered them the option to write-in a name...hmmm, just like a Republican ballot would function. A technician was called and confirmed that nothing was wrong with the machines/software. Ya think maybe a poll worker was occasionally keying in D voters as R's? This would be the same polling place that had to temporarily shut down at 7:00 PM last November because of some poll worker freak out. Voters ended up in line until 9:30 (well, those who didn't give up and leave).

Finally, speaking of temporary shut downs, could the biggest victim of Tuesday's results be Matt H?


Time will tell...
.

Some notes for today's primary election

The ADB has a press release from Councilwoman Smith.

Slag Heap considers what a Zappala Peck win would mean.

Infinonymous notes that Ravenstahl can't even be trusted with taking care of the beer.

The Pittsburgh Comet finds that Tony Ceoffe ♥ scofflaws.

I will be voting for Patrick Dowd for mayor and Hugh McGough for Court of Common Pleas and cribbing from Progress Pittsburgh's Big Endorsement List (among other lists) for judicial votes (Barbara Behrend Ernsberger, Joe Williams, Susan Evanshavik DiLucente, Alex Bicket, Philip Igneizi, Anne Lazarus).

If I was in District 2 I'd vote for Georgia Blotzer, if I was in district 4 I'd vote for Natalia Rudiak, if I was in District 8 I'd vote for Bill Peduto, if I was in Wards 9 & 6 I'd vote for Susan Banahasky, and if I had to choose between Motznik and Diven I'd get a really big hammer and a really big steel spike and drive it into my own head.

I'll be poll watching all day, so no more posts from me today until fairly late (if any), so I'll say it now:

GET OUT THERE AND VOTE!
.

Ravenstahl, Smith & Reilly Falsely Claim Post-Gazette Endorsements

Pittsburgh's in the middle of an epidemic, folks, but it ain't the Swine Flu. It's mendacious pols with misleading fliers which make it appear as if the Post-Gazette endorsed them when that is in fact A BIG FAT LIE.

Only yesterday the P-G ran an editorial blasting City Councilwoman Theresa Smith for her deceptive fliers which claimed a P-G endorsement when they had in fact endorsed Georgia Blotzer for Council District 2...twice. Now the P-G reports that Lil Mayor Luke and Patrick Reilly are in on the act. They all juxtapose the Post-Gazette logo on their fliers to make it appear as an endorsement. (Is their some dank basement or dark alley where these folks meet to compare notes on how best to lie to voters?)

Let's review:

The P-G endorsed Patrick Dowd for Mayor, not Lukey Steelerstahl Bathroomstahl WTFenstahl Ravenstahl.

The P-G endorsed Georgia Blotzer for City Council District 2, not Theresa Smith Kail-Smith Smith.

The P-G endorsed Natalia Rudiak for City Council District 4, not Patrick "Who?" Reilly.

http://www.dowdformayor.com

http://www.georgiaforcouncil.com

http://nataliarudiak.com
.

Around the Burgosphere

The Reformation is making a comeback with the re-launch of City Councilman Bill Peduto's Reform Pittsburgh Now site (he even nails his theses to the virtual door).

Progress Pittsburgh notes a need for election workers in Pittsburgh's 7th and 8th Wards for the May 19th primary.

Progress Pittsburgh (again) and The Pittsburgh Women's Blogging Society report on yard sign thuggery against Natalia Rudiak and Susan Banahasky (I also hear that Georgia Blotzer supporters are facing intimidation when putting up her signs in their own yards and it sure as hell is not coming from the Rob Frank camp).

Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents gives a queer perspective on the City Council District 6 race.

The Pittsburgh Comet "Will Make You Talk About Pat Ford If It's The Last Thing This Blog Does," dammit! (You go, Bram!)

The Busman's Holiday's April 22nd post is relevant anew as Lil Mayor Luke dodged the making his schedule public question one mo' time at this week's mayoral debate. Bonus points to Lukey for blaming it all on Dowd instead of Mayo asking the question. Meanwhile, Early Returns gets all hairy over the debates.

The City Paper interviewed local bloggers Bram and Matt H on print vs. blogs and agendas (which we blogged on here).

The Angry Drunk Bureaucrat provides a sneak peak at web-based permitting.

View from the BurghChair interviews, uh, everyone!

And, A Spork in the Drawer takes on Pooh.
.