This is great!Allegheny county executive and gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato announced a government reform package today that would cap political contributions, eliminate so-called walking-around money and withhold state lawmakers' pay if they don't pass a budget on time.
Onorato, speaking to about 60 Rotary Club members Downtown, promised that on his first day in the governor's office he would ban gifts to executive branch officials, extend the one-year ban on lobbying by former state officials to two years, and require more detailed disclosure of lobbyists' contacts with state officials. (Trib, Mike Wereschagin)
And it gets better!
I can't wait until he submits identical legislation to Allegheny County Council, and pushes for it with all guns blazing. After all, if it's good enough for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the event that Mr. Onorato gets elected, it's certainly good enough for us here in Allegheny County while we still have him all to ourselves! The same principles apply, right? Now that I think about it, I'm feeling unprotected from all these corrosive political influences which Mr. Onorato believes are so dangerous. I'm glad we can expect these strong legal assurances on the home front any moment now.
*-UPDATE: Rival Democratic candidate Tom Knox is starting to raise questions pertaining to credibility. (Early Returns)
When former member of county council, Wayne Fontana, became a candidate for PA Senate and did not resign as he should have (according to County Charter) -- where was Dan then? He said nothing.
ReplyDeleteVery good logic and great way to connect the dots as per PA to Allegheny County and words else deeds.
Frankly, I don't need nor want to see guns blazing in halls of government, but an administrative push by the elected executive makes sense.
Does anyone have Dan on video tape saying those things? YouTube URL, please.
Dan the tax man took a $100K donation from a coal company executive from ohio. now he's got reform fever.
ReplyDeleteDidn't he push for local campaign reform with the boy mayor. City council enacted theirs last spring. County reform goes no where.
Yes he sure did. I am sure that the Boich Coal Co. of Columbus Ohio is very supportive of better environmental laws and mine safety regulations in Pennsylvania.
ReplyDeletehere it is folks
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09034/946491-181.stm
Onorato's top campaign contributor was Wayne Michael Boich, of the Columbus-based mining concern Boich Companies, giving $100,000.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09034/946491-181.stm#ixzz0XJJWSxRf
Hey! lay off Dan. He can't be influenced by money. He told me himself....lol.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't forget about Onorato's $150,000 "loan" to Luke Ravenstahl just before the year end reporting deadline, which Luke has yet to repay. Was it a gratuitous donation, or was there someone Dan was laundering money for? Someone who couldn't appear on Ravenstahl's report? This really sounds to me like someone who wants to rid the influence of money from politics. It makes me sick to think that this duo is running the city and county.
ReplyDeleteThey want to extract gas and coal from our county parks. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteThe county wants to extract gas and coal? I thought a private company was looking to do that? Also, I did not realize all county parks were targeted. Is this factually accurate?
ReplyDeleteThe county workers won't extract the natural resources. Come now.
ReplyDeleteThey....
Well, county would give permissions, be stewards, and collect the royalties, and mitigate the rehab.
Perhaps those that make campaign donations will be the ones with the shovels and piplelines.
It's hyperbole, Mark. It's a load of BS. Only South Park has been targeted.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone considered the possibility that campaign donations can be something other than quid pro quo? If the progressive movement is the domain of the cynical, where the motives of the powerful are judged not by facts but by an assumption that the powerful are not to be trusted, the movement will fail to grow and will become irrelevant.
anon 12:47 is assuming that people who give to campaigns are powerful. Didn't you just implicitly answer your own question and expose the falsehood of your remarks?
ReplyDeleteHow are the leases going out at the airport? Lots of land to develop and no public dollars to pay for it, eh? part time legislators should buck up and perform full time due diligence.
More than South Park has been targeted.
ReplyDeleteEven geese in North Park have been 'targeted.' (joke)
Sure, campaign donations can be more than quid pro quo.
The work of the good does not eliminated the need to investigate the potential of crimes of the few.
The best way to insure that the powerful are not honest is to provide complete trust.
The destruction of a movement can't be avoided after it has been pounded to bits by the forces of money.
Anon 12:05 & 12:47 - It's not hyperbole at all. Clearly saying the County "wants to drill" is a reasonable abbreviation of saying it "wants drilling there in order to reap the tax revenue and economic benefit". And Mark never said "all parks" -- he did say "parks", which is a significant point in itself because there is a presumption inherent in the idea of parks that they will be protected from resource exploitation. You're just annoyed by the line of discussion is all.
ReplyDeleteNow, your point about progressives and campaign contributions and cynicism. I'm not going to deny that sometimes we leap to errant or unnecessary conclusions, but this was A Hundred Large, his most significant contributor. I think the higher the number goes, the higher the call for cynicism. It strains credulity to believe that such an amount can be spent by an energy company engaged in mining without it having something to do with its core mission of energy and mining. Note that Dan also now believes that contributions in that amount ought to be illegal on good government grounds.
Bram, This is my FAVORITE Dan is running story: http://thejewishchronicle.net/pages/full_story/push?article-Onorato+makes-first+trip-to+Israel-%20&id=4539573&instance=home_news_metro_right
ReplyDelete"Onorato, one of seven declared candidates for governor in 2010, just returned from a seven-day swing through Israel, touring the country with Jewish leaders from Pittsburgh and Philadelphia."