Well, this sucks. (Luke thwarts fracking ban)

[Pat Riot]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11221/1166182-100.stm

[Divernan]

1. A young & ambitious politician & an industry dangling 40 yrs. of campaign contributions.

It's a match made in hell, not heaven. He just turned what, age 31? I can just hear the Marcellus shale lobbyists
making their pitch to him: Mr. Mayor, with our backing in the decades to come, the sky's the limit, office wise. You can be a Senator, a Governor, even President! Or maybe they promised him lucrative board appointments should he lose his next election. Little Luke is the shale industry's new butt boy.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Butt+Boy
A servile underling. Especially one who is also a sycophant. A suck up or brown-noser. Synonomous with "toadie" or "stooge." A butt boy does his Master's dirty work.
The CEO is sending one of his butt boys down to straighten out the mess in accounting.

More from the OP's link:

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl will not sign a Pittsburgh City Council measure seeking a referendum banning natural gas drilling, citing business and legal concerns.

The mayor issued a letter to council Monday night saying his move has "effectively eliminated" the possibility the city charter referendum can appear on November ballots, but council may attempt an end-run to get it on the ballot anyway. A group of council members is considering sending the county elections division an "interim letter" urging elections officials to proceed with the referendum, and promising to override a presumed veto when they return from recess in late August.

(Ravenstahl stated) "By adding this language to our very governing documents, we send the wrong message, not just to an industry that is burgeoning in our state and region, but also to the world. Whatever your own position on the issue of natural gas drilling, this industry is in this region to stay," he wrote.

As for the message the ban could send, Mr. Shields responded that "I would beg to differ, in that this is a city that cares about its environment. If the shale gas industry is upset about that, well, that's their problem."



Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11221/1166182-100.stm#ixzz1UdbDbzGU

[Divernan]

2. Pittsburgh is no longer a city open for business; Pittsburgh is a city for sale.

Ravenstahl's time as Mayor of Pittsburgh has been replete with venal, egotistical, & self-serving, (OK, standard for most politicians) behavior. But he is also noted for his juvenile and immature actions, which have been a continuing embarrassment. Google his name if you haven't eaten recently. Following are four examples (limited to 4 paragraphs by copyright policy)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_Ravenstahl

* On August 27, 2008, Urban Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Pat Ford resigned in a tersely worded letter to Ravenstahl and Chief of Staff Yarone Zober.<63> The letter claims that the Ravenstahl administration is characterized by a “culture of deception and corruption.”<64><65> When asked to substantiate these rumors of corruption, Ford lawyer Lawrence Fisher replied: "the way contracts are supposed to be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder, and the way contributions have been made to the mayor, I think it's self-evident".<66> Specifically, Mr. Fisher referred to the recent awarding of a URA contract to the highest of three bidders, contrary to Pennsylvania state law that states such contracts must be awarded to the "lowest responsible bidder".<67>

In addition to the claims of corruption, Ford called Ravenstahl's "a failed administration" that forced him "to serve as a scapegoat for the inappropriate affairs and activities of others".<68> Councilman William Peduto issued a statement that the contracting issue "goes much further than Pat Ford. Pittsburgh is no longer a city that is open for business; Pittsburgh is a city for sale."<69>

In December 2006, Matthew McTish, president of McTish, Kunkel & Associates, gave $10,000 to Ravenstahl's campaign. In August 2007, McTish, Kinkel & Associates was awarded a $525,000 contract by the Urban Redevelopment Authority despite being the highest of three bidders.<67><70> That contract, and other URA dealings, are currently under investigation by the City Controller.<71><72><73>

On 25 September and 26 September 2009, the city of Pittsburgh hosted the G20 Summit. During the event, over 190 people were arrested, many of whom were students.<77> The American Civil Liberties Union is handling cases on behalf of many people arrested during the G20 protests, citing incidents of illegal searches, seizures, harassment, and unlawful arrests.<78> As a result of what many felt was an excessive police presence in response to protesters, many blamed Ravenstahl and Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato, who were in charge of preparing for the G-20 event.<79><80><81> On 1 October 2009 after the G-20 summit, Ravenstahl attended "Off the Record," an intentionally raucous charity event hosted by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. According to reports, Ravenstahl in character went on stage dressed in police riot gear and acknowledged the ACLU lawsuits against the city related to issues of freedom of speech, saying "I have some free speech for you -- fuck you, Vic Walczak."<82> (Walczak is the Legal Director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania.)<83> See also: 2009 G-20 Pittsburgh summit Protests

[Pat Riot]

3. WHOA! WHAT?!

I'd heard of the other incidents, but not that last thing. FU to the ACLU, what a mini Cheney. Boy Blunder does have some big balls on that tiny frame. sheesh

[Divernan]

4. Ravenstahl is his own collection of horror urban legend tales.

Google the crap he pulled at Oakmont Country Club re Tiger Woods. Neither Oakmont CC nor Tiger were amused.

Here's my little local tale I got from a neighbor who's a cop. The Mayor's first words when arriving at a public event: "Where's the chicks?" He was still nominally married at the time.

My law school class had a small clique of Washington & Jefferson jocks, as is Ravenstahl, and they were so incredibly immature and vulgar. Any unmarried women were presumed to be dykes (to use their term). Any unmarried woman who got better grades than them, and any unmarried woman professor who laughed at their stupid answers in class (all the professors, male and female, gave all students, male and female, a hard time in class) and any woman who refused their crude advances, were absolutely confirmed to be dykes! They bragged about who got drunk the fastest, who provided a whore at the William Penn Hotel when one of them got married, etc. - and this was a Catholic law school. Even though many of them came from working class families and were first generation college grads, they loathed the unions. W& J had a rep as a party school back then - early 80's. Ravenstahl seems to confirm that.

It just killed these guys every married woman in the class did better than they did re class performance, grades, moot court, law review, etc.

[Pat Riot]

5. Exactly the type of bully that has plagued me all my life.

I'll gladly be a dyke if that is the alternative.

[Allenberg]

6. Ugh.

I know I'm a bit late to the show on this, but I am proud that I haven't once voted for Mayor "Steeler-stahl."

I've voted for Peduto in the primary, and wrote in Peduto for the general.

[chemenger]

7. Hee, Hee! You said Peduto.

Rob Rogers' Brewed on Grant Street ... funniest political cartoon evah ... The Boy Mayor sucking on his juice box.