So there's no avoiding this.Judge Joseph M. James said the Harris campaign can fix the problems within five days.
Harris agreed to strike 1,475 of the 3,245 nominating signatures he submitted to get on the ballot. Candidates for mayor need to collect a minimum of 1,119 signatures, meaning Harris was left with enough valid signatures to continue. (Trib, Jeremy Boren)
Independent documentary filmmaker Chris Ivey, of East of Liberty and Ravenstahl's Stumble On The Hill fame, was among those who had their Harris nomination signatures challenged -- and was actually called upon to respond during today's proceedings. Ivey has since used his Facebook account to accuse Acklin of "Bush/Cheney tactics" and advise him that "it's on."
Statements are out there from both candidacies in news articles, press releases, tweets, Facebook updates and conference calls. It will continue this way until November.
*-UPDATE: These posts may be instructive: Infinonymous, again.
I wonder if Chris Ivey would have accused Barack Obama of Bush/Cheney tactics.
ReplyDelete"To my mind, we were just abiding by the rules that had been set up," Obama recalled.
I hope both Acklin & Harris now buckle down to making their case to the voters.
ReplyDeleteAny number of issues relevant to Pittsburgh voters come to mind.
Pursuing time wasting legal action and having both of their staffs engaged in online sniping is ridiculous.
Hey Acklin & Harris, there's an 800 lb. gorilla in the room, remember? Hint, initials: L.R.
It's not Harris' fault that Acklin threw a temper tantrum.
ReplyDeleteIt's not Acklin's fault that Harris' staff couldn't be bothered to abide by a few simple rules and state election laws. If a team under his leadership can't fill out a petition or screen signatures properly, I certainly don't want his people in charge of the city budget.
ReplyDeleteWere they tempter tantrums all those times Barack Obama did the same thing?
But at the end of the day Anon 10:16 is right. They have to stop fighting each other and pay all their attention to the boy gorilla.
These two should kiss and make up at a Hyperboy movie night.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure Chris could scare up a copy of Metropolis or somesuch.
braaaam can you get and post video of the council shouting match of moznik v. dowd in re: senior citizen tax relief?
ReplyDeletewho is running the Harris campaign?
ReplyDeleteIs there a field plan?
Do they have independent money? That has not come from the NFL pension system, daddy's donut company, or contributors from outside the city?
Or is this campaign nothing more than filler for DOK's notable endeavors list?
Sounds like Acklin was taking advise from the BonusGating petition challenging
ReplyDeleteoperatives of recent PA elections.
Shame on him!
Obviously the Acklin campaign can't count either...that should earn him a very distant
3rd in November.
I gots to say: the fact that almost half of Harris's ballots got thrown out confirms to me that Acklin's challenge was a legitimate test and a legitimate shot; it wasn't a "waste of time" or a "waste of taxpayer money" or a "mean thing to do" or "undemocratic" or anything like that.
ReplyDeleteMoreover I'm a little alarmed that Harris had to cop to some campaign "sloppiness" in the papers. It might not have been the best time to describe himself as a donut salesman, either, since we'd all kind of like to start thinking of him as a politician -- at least in the good way.
At the same time it was a bit sloppy of Acklin to have swept Ivey up in this -- and I don't know how he came to be more intimately involved than most of the other 1000+ names that were questioned. And the fact that the challenge didn't land a knock-out means that it did serve to further alienate him from at least some non-Luke constituencies.
Is it just me, or is the G-20 (and the attack on Pittsburgh from Harrisburg) serving to compress the election? From a challenger's standpoint, it's like everything that possibly can go wrong is. I guess you can twist that to mean things are "too quiet" for Luke but I don't really see how. Unless the challengers' outreach to non-traditional campaign neighborhoods is really what they're both bragging it is.
If you have the time, it's relevant to look at something I wrote a couple years ago about another petition challenge
ReplyDelete(later revealed as part of BonusGate):
http://ebbortz.blogspot.com/2006/11/green-roots-harrisburg-blues.html
I've worked on a few campaigns and I know there's one thing all campaigns need more of, but that no amount of money can buy, and that is TIME.
ReplyDeleteBram I respectfully disagree with you, the antics both campaigns are engaged in are a grand waste of time.
Trust me, the majority of Pittsburgh voters aren't even aware of, let alone paying one whit of attention to this internet clamoring.
Both candidates are, frankly, unknown to most voters, while the incumbent is known by darn near every voter.
I truly hope the candidates take all of this bull by the horn & work full tilt on their own campaigns for the remainder of the campaign season.
Gloria - Agreed. I just meant it wasn't a waste of "taxpayer" time.
ReplyDeletee b bortz - One thing for sure about Titus North, he made the best political YouTube ad ever. Wonder what that dude's up to for G-20.
Ivey's information on the petition didn't match his information on his voter registration, just like several hundred other signers on the petitions. Mismatches like these could be errors or forgeries, so by state law they are able to be disqualified. They are also able to be amended.
ReplyDeleteAcklin didn't bring Ivey into it any more than the other challenged signers. The Harris Campaign did. They selected him from a large pool of people whose signatures were challenged.
Now why do you think they did that? Because of his Facebook account?
Let it be said that of the three mayoral candidates, the first to play the race card was Dok Harris.
League - You think they played the "race" card? I think they played the, "he's popular and well liked" card -- and he's politically relevant vis a vis Luke Ravenstahl's development policies.
ReplyDeleteAcklin's campaign ended with the pension deal today. Firefighters all owe Luke big time now.
ReplyDeleteCarolN - I may have to invest $10 in a CD for that Motzik / Dowd shouting match. I can't wait until this stuff goes online.
ReplyDeleteAnon 10:02 - The Firefighters control destiny, now? And why does that hurt Acklin more than it hurts Harris?