During the days of the Mayor's revelation, a bevy of fresh reporting on the federal investigation into the Police Bureau was published and new public information issued. Even connecting the choicest portions in the context that they arose, one can only make assumptions about rivulets of misspending allegedly occurring under the aegis of the police which would interest the Federal Department of Justice to the point of scrambling the FBI in a sustained flurry.
Quickly thereafter the decisive, incisive mayoral appointment of Regina McDonald as Interim Chief stunned the police union numb, but that has not at all slowed her assertive pace of making change even in this painful, querulous, sometimes obtuse environment. We are all watchful of federal officials issuing further smoke-signals, and getting on with life in the City of Champions.
Our mayoral candidates! I used to wonder what democracy could be, until yinz all shared its magic with me...
Former PA Auditor General Jack Wagner indicates he's up for another big adventure, and sooner rather than later. His demands of Penn State in the wake of the Sandusky scandal continue to echo in Harrisburg, his audits of technology contracts are spurring calls for reform, and he continues to advise a ban on school district interest-rate swapping. The last time he made waves in Pittsburgh politics, he criticized the sale of a State Office Building as a "ripoff" although that sale had become tied by a state oversight board to releasing City gaming revenue dedicated for the purchase and installation of modern municipal accounting software. No, really.
City Controller Michael Lamb is faithfully pursuing the local Democratic Committee's endorsement and will receive it by a strong margin, and probably without pledging anything too too costly. To illustrate the case for his diligence as the city's financial watchdog, Lamb has said the police credit union account under inquiry "was set up specifically for the purposes of keeping it secret from me." Though frenetic recently in his financial oversight role, Lamb has yet to preview positions on issues as dear to the Comet as urban redevelopment or public safety -- but has long staked out organizing territory in public education and municipal relations.
Speaking again of the Police Bureau, many of the people of Pittsburgh are eager to begin having a conversation about a new Chief and a reformed Bureau. The qualities sought after for that position range from experienced and accomplished to courageous and honest to engaging and interactive, with model candidates ranging from Abraham Lincoln to Mahatma Gandhi. Notable consensus seemed to emerge around a desire for the Bureau to re-adopt the orders of the 1997 federal consent decree as the "hammer of justice." Notions such as employing social or psychological profile exams are being bandied about, given the thirst for trust and integrity.
Our mayoral candidates.Don't you know they are our very best friends? And together, their powers combined, are Pittsburgh's best opportunity to marshal coherent solutions to many challenges?
Our city is sure to remain an exceptional place to live, love and struggle because we 'Burghers have a special thirst to build and excel. Just remember that during foundational power shifts, full-grown dragons may find themselves disturbed. The recommended approach to any unavoidable conflict with these big meanies is sternness and compassion.
MONEY: Early Returns, Tim McNulty, click thru to CP
Meanwhile, Luke Ravenstahl's camp is playing political roulette at the table along with police and firefighters' unions and others, and the Democratic Committee concerns itself chiefly with retaining all of its power in government. Terrific.
Pittsburgh deserves this election. But it could still get a little bit sweeter.
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