O Danny Boy: Trying Times Ahead

[Friends Against Counterproductive Taxation] plans to roll out a full-fledged campaign called the "Whiskey Rebellion II," with a kickoff party tomorrow at the Church Brew Works in Lawrenceville. (P-G, Karamagi Rujumba)

Are the goose people invited?

Mr. Onorato, who easily won a second term last year, has consistently said he has not yet determined whether he will seek the governor's mansion in two years.

But if he does, Kevin Joyce, proprietor of The Carlton restaurant, said the local hospitality industry will make its case to voters in all parts of the state that Mr. Onorato has not only been "a bad chief executive," but that he has "failed to lead on the tough issues."

That is so the crux.

Mr. Onorato has presided over a period of fatalism and malaise in our county. "Holding the line" is not a huge resume enhancer, and that North Side charisma may not take him so far outside the region.

Having punted on the opportunity to shake things up on behalf of his former allies in the Hill Faith & Justice Alliance, his last opportunity to generate a little electricity will probably be this city/county merger. That strikes us as a hail mary pass thrown across a mine field.

At the conclusion of his term, the pertinent question might not be whether Onorato gets into the Governor's Mansion, but whether he is viewed as culpable for the County Executive's Pad slipping out of Democratic control. In 2011, which party will seem like the party of change to you?