Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Pittsburghs own John Forbes Kerry?

So I ‘m not going back and researching this, but my sense is that the Mayor has reversed positions before. Of course there was the famous Act 47 vote, where the Mayor waited until the last vote of several to vote *for* the thing. At the time the Mayor described himself as taking the lead to persuade his colleagues to vote unanimously, to show a solid front. If memory serves he flipped on the Off Duty Police charge thingie. He was agin‘it, because small business would suffer. Seeing as how the small businesses could be identified as the Stiller’s ‘n Pi-urtes, the Mayor sensed a shift in the wind and now he is a-fore it.

The latest situation is that the Mayor is shocked, shocked to find that police who have are accused of domestic violence have been promoted. The Mayor is again vacillating between hanging tough against criticism and bending to the wishes of those who are outraged. After a while, people may come to realize that if they shout loud enough and long enough, this Mayor will fold on just about anything. So far the Mayor has folded on issues that a progressive can be happy about, like the police off duty pay thing and changing the way promotions are looked at. But that is not always going to be the case, I think.

Meanwhile, while I was reading coverage of the DeSantis announcement, I saw the name of Danika Wukich, the Mayor’s campaign spokesperson. Hunh, I knew a Danica years ago. I googled Ms. Wukich, just for the heck of it. Turns out, she just graduated Slippery Rock. She must be 23. Twenty Three. I know the twenty year olds out there are saying “So?”. But for the rest of us, we know that experience counts, and this Mayor badly needs the benefit of someone’s experience. She already mentioned how the Mayor is looking forward to debating DeSantis (she was quick to say that when and how is not worked out). I doubt if the Mayor is looking forward to debating someone who might reference Pericles or quote Orwell.

Plus we get an idea of what the Mayor thinks of us, choosing someone with little or no experience as his campaign spokesperson.

As we know, Dan Onorato got himself on both the democrat and republican tickets for County Executive. The Mayor could have easily done the same for his office in the city, probably would have if anyone had advised him to. The Mayor needs the advantage of experience, but he has asked his (experienced) directors to resign and has a 23 year old campaign spokesperson. I can hear Al Gore sighing already.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

What's wrong with being 23? lol

Anonymous said...

Most Slippery Rock grads take at least 6 years to get their degree.
I'd place her age somewhere around 25 or 26.

EdHeath said...

Poor Ms. Wukich. I was calculating her age based on her being reported as a Frosh in a 5K she ran in 2001 (this millennium). Poor SRU (5 or 6 yers?). Perhaps Patrick is thinking of the Rock's reputation as a teaching college. I am assuming Ms. Wukich was communications or Poli Sci. For what it is worth.

I can see I am likely to embarrass myself as I did when I once referred to Mrs Ravenstahl as “the hairdresser wife”, and Jonathan Potts asked what her being a hairdresser had to do with anything. So I should say I am used to smart people turning up in unusual places, placed there by circumstances beyond their control. But smart is no substitute for experience. And watching the Mayor reverse himself on at least a couple of issues makes it clear that someone needs to write the Mayor’s speeches and make sure he sticks with the script. Also they need to role play with the Mayor and get him used to giving answers he won’t have to reverse later.

Anonymous said...

Ms. Wukich's brother works for Teresa Heinz.

EdHeath said...

Well, to quote Archie Bunker, "Awww Jeeezee". So the Mayor is so sure of this election, this campaign staff pick is oriented towards future runs. The Mayor may want access to the Heinz-Kerry machine at some point, may want a favor or two to call in. And Ms Wukich gets a resume credit. Nicccce.

Anonymous said...

Cog Dissonance Gang,
We are holding a rally tomorrow, 7/3, outside Tim Murphys office at 504 Washington Rd. Local Iraq vet Paul Abernathy will be speaking out against the war at 10:45. We need all the support we can get!!

The event is listed on craigslist and the Thomas Merton Center calender...here is the link:

http://www.thomasmertoncenter.org/Lists/Events/DispForm.htm?ID=3467&Source=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2ethomasmertoncenter%2eorg%2fcalendar%2f

We hope to see you there!!