Here's my personal election aftermath for Pittsburgh. Or: Fetterman for Green Party Pgh. Mayoral Run.

Also Published at my Pittsburgh Progressive Examiner site)

I'm obviously happy that Robert Lavelle unseated Tonya (Look, the jobs issue is issue one. I can testify to that.) and that John Fetterman was retained as Braddock Mayor. I think he won with 297 votes. If you divide the one to several million dollars in free national advertising he got doing the carbon caps ads and translate that to votes I think that comes out to 6 thousand to 18 thousand dollars per vote. Well worth it.

Of course, Luke won which puts a damper on all things good and decent. But you know how the old saying goes: There is opportunity in crisis. This would be a great time for the Green Party to run a citywide campaign, a real campaign where you attempt to raise several million dollars, hire a fulltime canvas, etc. That's where you do the things you need to do in order to win a campaign and not just lose "symbolically". As Fetterman shows us, you don't need to be the mayor of a big town in order to have vision. Speaking of Fetterman, why doesn't the Green Party recruit Fetterman to run as the Mayor of Pittsburgh? There is such a thing as dual residency. His name recognition should make him competitive. Of course, that would require a Third Party with the imagination and skillz to organize itself out of a Paper Bag...yeah, the Green Party probably isn't it. Pirate Party anyone...?.

Around the Pittsburgh Internets: Maria has the rundown from most of the other blogs. Agent Ska has some highlights from the winning Rudiak campaign. And apparently Agent Ska, my fake virtual girlfriend and a known enemy to corrupt dem establishment figures within the city, got her car accidently towed. Or not. Mark Rauterkaus is already talking up Republican turned independent Keith Acklin. Mark is probably one of the best informed bloggers in this city but I just don't trust republicans. Maria has already bashed him and deservedly so. Acklin is only running as an independent because the Republican brand has been so tarnished. If only a left of center third party could step up to the plate....

First Draft of my Election Response

May 21

ITEM: I don't have time to do a lot of writing now. I'm obviously happy that Lavelle unseated Tonya and that Fetterman was retained as Braddock Mayor. I think he won with 297 votes. If you divide the several million dollars in free national advertising he got doing the carbon caps ads and divide it I think that comes out to 6000 dollars per vote. Well worth it. Of course, Luke won which puts a damper on all things good and decent. But you know how the old saying goes: There is opportunity in crisis. This would be a great time for the Green Party to run a citywide campaign, a real campaign where you attempt to raise several million dollars, hire a fulltime canvas, etc. That's where you do the things you need to do in order to win a campaign and not just lose "symbolically". As Fetterman shows us, you don't need to be the mayor of a big town in order to have vision. Speaking of Fetterman, why doesn't the Green Party recruit Fetterman to run as the Mayor of Pittsburgh? There is such a thing as dual residency. His name recognition should make him competitive. Of course, that would require a Third Party with the imagination and skillz to organize itself out of a Paper Bag...yeah, the Green Party probably isn't it. Pirate Party anyone...?

Question For the Pgh. Lesbian Correspondents: Does Gay Marriage Trump Third World Conditions and Murders in the Black Community?

(Originally Published May 14 Before the Election)

Question for the Pgh. Lesbian Correspondents: Is Gay Marriage more important than black male joblessness and the resulting parade of drug war corpses that result from that? What issue is more "progressive"?

ITEM: Lavelle creates anti-Tonya website. By the way, I noticed that Maria linked to a piece by the Pgh Lesbian correspondents--which features routinely great writing--and they gave Lavelle the thumbs down because he was unclear on his position on lesbian and gay issues. You can read it for yourself. I also suspect that there's some reluctance about getting rid of a female rep on a mostly male council. Fair enough.

For the record and speaking for myself, the most persuasive case against Tonya came from a woman, otherwise known as Dr. Goddess, although I'm not sure who's she endorsing in the current race or if she's endorsed anyone. I'm fairly certain she hasn't endorsed Tonya.

Here's what she wrote about Tonya:

It's not a grocery store, goddammit! Our children are DYING. Get it? Dying!

I told Pgh United this from the very beginning. We shared this within One Hill. We told them not to let anyone market this bullcrap to us from the start. Of course a grocery store is an easy win and another way to GET MONEY from people in the neighborhood.

And so, I am sick of everybody at this point. And I am most sick of my City Council representative, Tonya Payne, because she has wasted our entire community's time for the last two years. If we had someone really fighting for us, really going to bat for us AND (this is key, so pay attention) in the positions that she has been in (Planning and Zoning, the URA, close association with Mayor Ravenstahl and David Morehouse of the Penguins), we would not have to waste one moment of our time having to protest. We would be able to simply shake hands with the Mayor, shake hands with the Pens, shake hands with Dan Onorato and applaud our collective vision and masterplan for reinvestment.

I suppose if she was writing about this now it would be: "It's not about gay marriage, goddamnit!" I might also note that her critiques rise above "snark". She also wrote this later:

Tonya Payne does not deserve to be our representative. And I am calling on all of the people who remotely thought putting her in office was a good idea to please get your ballots ready to put her OUT.

But I guess the point of the matter for me is that we're facing Third World conditions within the black community. Manning Marable once wrote a book called "How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America" and it still holds up because its still true. If its a choice between gay marriage and ending this succession of murdered black teens involved in the drug trade then I think you can be a progressive and decide that the latter is more important than the former. I might note that with this stimulus we're looking at these same issues again. The rate of black crime rises proportionally with the elimination of meaningful blue collar work. I don't know if Robert Lavelle can change all that but if you're a person in his district I would think that you would want to give him the chance. To me, anyway, ending this parade of murdered black people trumps gay marriage as an issue, even as a progressive issue. Or, now that I think about it, especially as a progressive issue.