First, some medals for outstanding behavior:BRONZE: Patrick Dowd - Fine to accuse Mayor Ravenstahl of capitalizing on the aftermath of the tragedy in Stanton Heights to some extent in order to elude a political obligation. And fine to allege that his relaxed attitude towards law enforcement resulted in a death at a club. But throwing them both into the same statement lends the whole thing an air of ugly desperation.
SILVER: Luke Ravenstahl - Seemingly within hours of hearing from KDKA that the event was to be rescheduled, he notified the media that no further time would be available before the election. Yeah right. Some things are priorities.
GOLD: KDKA - You had to have known this would happen.
##
A few commenters so far have called Luke a "liar" for having ruled out rescheduling debates because of his schedule. One of these submitted a classic video to drive home the point:
Speak, memory...
1. Luke still maintains he didn't lie to anybody about the trip according to his definitions. Nor in denying the Heinz Field shoving match.
2. The Mayor does not regret missing a much-anticipated meeting with Hill District and Uptown leaders the morning following a huge public land transfer in their neighborhood, in favor of a "political trip" in which he could "talk politically with Mr. Burkle".
3. So it's two years later. How has the dialogue proceeded with the Hill District? Where are we in the process? Pittsburgh is on a tight deadline to organize a community-driven Master Plan before the right of submission reverts to the Penguins, correct? Have there been any meetings? Any discussions? Any bullet points? Anybody heard from Carl Redwood lately?
4. Luke Ravenstahl is not worried about his credibility.
Oh, why does getting a frank discussion of the issues have to be like pulling teeth?
ReplyDeleteI posted this on Matt's bllog a few minutes ago, which means it will appear whenever:
ReplyDeleteWell, the Mayor says KDKA cancelled this without consulting him, much less without being directed by him to do so. The Mayor has the capacity to ask a group of journalists to create some questions, and them ask them of him and tape the process. The Mayor could offer the City's facilities to the other candidates to repeat the process in a timely fashion, and the Mayor's campaign could deliver the tapes to KDKA, or all three, or have them shown on the City channel. In short, the Mayor does not need to only write scathing letters, he can actually do something about this. If he so chooses.
A busy schedule indeed.
ReplyDelete"Mr. Mayor?"
I don't understand. The police officers have been honored and buried, the shootings happened 9 days ago. Sorry, but this wasn't 9-11. What's the real reason behind KDKA pulling the plug?
ReplyDeleteAnyone care to take wagers on the over-under of a Bob Mayo story on KDKA seeking a permit to expand downtown/seek a variance/engage in a public/private partnership with the City via a no-bid contract?
ReplyDeleteMy take: 6 weeks (after the primary, but just).
Bob Mayo works at WTAE, TV 4, -- not KDKA.
ReplyDeleteMark, that's the point of my remark. He would be the one to report it.
ReplyDeleteNot Sheehan, Shumway or the others working on behalf of KDKA, and by extension, the mayor. Do you honestly think that KDKA would break a story on its own complicity with the mayor's press machine?
Ah, the joys of memory.
ReplyDelete"The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting." Milan Kundera
You know, eyes on the issue. Tomorrow's debate was to be pre-taped, yeah? So any rescheduled debate could also be pre-taped. Even though it would be cool to have questions asked via Youtube, it is not strictly necessary. The questions could be asked in any format by anyone, and as long as the candidates get the same questions, it doesn’t matter who asks. So the candidates could pre-tape anytime, and KDKA could reschedule and broadcast at any time.
ReplyDeleteSome around here may remember the story a couple of July’s ago (http://post-gazette.com/pg/07200/802827-53.stm), that mentioned the Mayor’s security detail would make more money, through overtime, than our energizer bunny Mayor. The line was something like the Mayor sometimes goes from 6 am to 2 am. Since our Mayor has all this stamina, surely our Mayor could find the time, say at 1 am, to answer some questions on tape.
Pgh Conservative, maybe KDKA will become the Fox News of Pittsburgh, the only station a Mayor could trust to get the story right. Maybe the Mayor will only do interviews with Andy Sheehan and/or Jon Delano. But that's the only thing I could see KDKA getting out of this. It sounds to me more like the temporary news director might be a bit overmatched.
Okay. Got your point about KDKA and Bob Mayo. Thanks for the clarity.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of KDKA and temp help: Marty Griffin (ex altar boy) was out today (rest of week?) and the sub is the Bishop of Pgh. OMG. (pun)
Dowd should call him out on this at a Boy Scout Spaghetti dinner.
ReplyDelete