P-G Early Returns is reporting that several women's organizations, far from placated by talk of new procedures within the Police Bureau, are committed to raising the volume against the recent promotions.Karen Myers of the Executive Women's Council is among them:
"The greater issue is not three policemen," she said. Rather it is "high-level officials of this government [who] believe their hands are tied. That's ridiculous. Well, untie your own hands" with legislation changing the rules that allowed the promotions.
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That quote dovetails nicely with recent observations by Comet senior political analyst Morton Reichbaum.
He describes a Mayor that is "easily intimidated" and "scared of pissing people off -- people who've been in city government longer than he has."
Morton also categorizes Luke's statements in the media as "pretty funny already," and he continues to insist that challenger Mark DeSantis is "really going to make this a race."
However, when asked directly whom he would support in the general election, Mr. Reichbaum shrugged and said, "I don't know, I guess Luke. What choice do I have?"
We asked if he had ever in his life voted for a Republican.
"Once," he answered. "Reagan's first term."
Contrary to the the popular mythology, he does not remember being seduced by the Great Communicator's swaggering, cowboy optimism. Rather, it was all about dissatisfaction with the incumbent.
"I couldn't stand Jimmy Carter!" he said. "He didn't do anything at all. He did absolutely nothing."
By the time Mayor Ravenstahl stands for election in November, he will have been in office for one year and two months.
Re: voting for Reagan in 1980. Let's give the devil his due. I agreed with that one. One week before the 1980 election, if I recall, the polls had Carter and Reagan tied in a dead heat. Then the two debated and folks who had never paid close attention to the race to that point but who were scared of the very idea of Reagan weren't so scared any more. I supported Jimmy in '76 but grew to detest the very sight of him (I like him a lot better now). Of course, by Reagan's second term there were literally hundreds of thousands in Europe protesting what they perceived to be his cowboy-like foreign policy. I doubt that any of those people ever thanked Reagan for his role in winning the cold war (and even Ted Kennedy and Gorbachev acknowledge Reagan's critical role in winning the cold war). Sometimes you need to break with the party line.
ReplyDeleteAt least you like Carter all right now, so I guess he's never taken the unforgivable step of snubbing the "Dean of Western Pennsylvania Journalism". What a shame. I was looking forward to a "Son of a Bitch Jimmy Carter" post!
ReplyDeleteMorton reminds me of my one friend who is a staunch Republican and Reagan worshipper. When I asked my friend if he was going to back the Republican mayoral candidate he said, and this is coming for a guy who is always bitching about the way the city is run, that since it was pretty much impossible for DeSantis to win he didn't want to risk backing the wrong guy (I'm still not sure what he would risk losing).
ReplyDeleteWhen asked if he would vote for Luke he said "I probably won't even vote." I then proceeded to go off on him on how lame his reasoning was.
Back in the Senatorial primary in ought-six, my mom talked up the challenger to Casey, this Chuck Pennacchio fellow, a professor from around Philly. When I asked her how she voted in the primary, she said she voted for Casey, to make sure there was a democrat in place who could defeat Santorum. I pointed out her one vote would not have put Pennacchio over, but it might have reminded Casey there are other democrats in Pennsylvania.
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