Fair und Balanced - Part II

Nice to see that I was slightly ahead of the curve, raising the issue of Luke's whereabouts during the Hill District Community meeting and the Mayor leaving poor, defenseless County Executive to fend for himself (and during a re-election cycle, for shame!)

Glad to see that someone else out there had the common decency to report that he was out drinking.

I, obviously, can't descend *that* far into hypocrisy and condemn a man for shooting back a few with some buds on a 757 en route to NYC. Hell, when I was Luke's age, I was doing just that.

Only without the 757... or the friends... but you get the drift.

Anyway, the rabble has decided, and I agree, that this is bad, bad, bad, and there is no excuse for letting drunkards into our Government... or at least in the elected bit. [No problems with civil servants getting hammered, right? No? Fantastic!]

Of course, there are always some lingering items:

First, the Pittsburgh African-American/Black Community has traditionally supported the Democratic Party endorsed candidate, but considering that it is currently Luke's race to lose, one might reconsider alienating one's base. It might not have won him votes to have shown up at the Hill "leadership" meeting, but it could not have hurt him.

Second, this is obviously an application of Rule #4 over there to the right: this is about the money. Burkle has it; Ravenstahl wants it. Maybe Burkle sees something in the kid that will help him out in the future; maybe Ravenstahl sees a fat checkbook. In any case, Luke has done right by following the money. However.

Third, perhaps this is just inexperienced hero worship. While Luke's family is kind of a big deal around State politics, it's hard to ignore the guy that comes in, sweeps you off your feet, drops a load of cash on you, flies you to NYC, and wines and dines you. Usually in this case, however, you end up the subject of a Lifetime Original Movie.

Fourth, Luke needs to learn how to lie better. Heck, he's been married long enough that this should come as second nature to him by now. If you were at a strip club, you were "out with friends." If you were at the bar, you were "working late." If you were flown out of state by a billionaire who just bought your hockey team, you were "maintaining valuable connections with potential investors in the Region"... you know, like the Allegheny Conference does.

And finally, given these recent developments, this drunkard is having a hard time chosing between mayoral candidates now. But, hey, that's just a bottle of Merlot talking.

Tag(s): Pittsburgh Politics, Luke Ravenstahl