News

Ricciardi won the Democrat nomination for district judge last week in a magisterial district that includes his home turf of the South Side and also Oakland. Several days before the primary, he sent a campaign mailing to Oakland residents that featured a prominently displayed picture of the Fox Oakland Theater.

Uh, Gene? The Fox Oakland Theater happens to be in Oakland, Calif. The theater, which opened in 1928, has been closed for years but a preservation group is studying its reuse and redevelopment.

The boo-boo obviously didn't hurt Ricciardi's district judge campaign. Still, we would advise him maybe taking a stroll through Pittsburgh's Oakland soon to familiarize himself with buildings that actually, you know, are there.

DRIVING ALMOST TO DEFEAT. Pittsburgh City Councilman Jim Motznik expressed surprise over his narrow victory last week against challenger Anthony Coghill for the Democrat nomination in District 4. He was trailing for much of the primary evening, and wound up defeating Coghill by just 332 votes according to unofficial Allegheny County election results.

Motznik attributed his near-defeat to the city's precarious financial condition, saying it was difficult for any incumbent to prevail under such circumstances.

We disagree. We thought Coghill's campaign commercials were the main reason Motznik almost lost.

Coghill resurrected footage of Motznik fleeing last year from a TV reporter as he attempted to avoid questions about why he kept a city-owned car for weeks at a time and still applied for mileage reimbursements for times he was in possession of the publicly owned car.

We're guessing that cost Motznik more votes than the city's near-bankruptcy last year.

BOBO BACKING. Nice to see that Walter "Bobo" Cross has maintained a keen interest in the judicial system several years after getting out of prison.

Those in the know reported Cross, of Glassport, spent time before last week's primary campaigning for various candidates. That his support extended to judicial candidates should come as no surprise; Cross knows a lot about judges -- he worked for them and was sent to jail by one.

Cross, the one-time supervisor of the statutory appeals division of Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, was sentenced to 27 months in prison for his role in a case-fixing scandal back in the mid-1990s. He was one of three men convicted of fixing 472 cases.

Bet those judicial candidates -- our snitch wouldn't reveal who they were -- were glad Cross was out there on their behalf.

A CUT ABOVE. There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but in Washington it's possible to get a free haircut.

Republican Sen. Rick Santorum was among 800 federal lawmakers and bureaucrats coiffed without charge last week by the members of the Professional Beauty Federation. The haircuts occurred while the federation held an "educational evening" for Congress.

According to The Washington Times, among those joining Santorum in the barber's chair were Republican Reps. Mary Bono of California and Thelma Drake of Virginia and Democrat Reps. Shelly Berkley of Nevada, Donald Payne of New Jersey and Grace Napolitanto of California.

Federation members were exchanging their services for a chance to discuss several bills affecting the $60 billion beauty industry.

ATTENTION PLEASE. Thomas Ridella, who won the Republican nomination for supervisor in Salem Township in Tuesday's primary, was appalled at the lack of civility he observed while attending a state House session during a trip to Harrisburg last month.

Ridella was so upset he wrote state House Speaker John M. Perzel to complain.

"I was totally amazed to see the total disorder, disinterest, and disrespect, lack of discipline and control of that session. It was obvious the majority of representatives on both sides of the aisle were more interested in carrying on their own conversations with their peers and walking through the aisle at will, paying no attention or respect to the speakers at the podium discussing the issue on the floor," Ridella told the Republican lawmaker from Philadelphia.

But Ridella was equally surprised by Perzel's reply.

"Please understand that it is a challenge to maintain absolute decorum in a body of 203 members and dozens of staff members and guests that are present on the House floor during each session. At the same time, sidebar discussions being held relevant to the issues being voted upon give the appearance of inattentiveness of rank-and-file members to the proceedings," Perzel wrote.

"That being said, however, I do agree with you that there is no excuse for incivility, and I will bring your complaint to the attention of the House members and staff."

If Ridella is successful Nov. 8 in his bid against Democrat Anders Johnson, he may seek some advice from Perzel, given Salem Township's long history of raucous public meetings.

NO DISCOUNTS. Animosity generated in the bitter Hempfield Area School Board race seeped over to the polls Tuesday.

Incumbent director Maria DiPiazza's election campaign literature drew the ire of opponents at the polls and wound up being studied by the county solicitor's office. On one side, DiPiazza's fliers sought support, while the other side carried a coupon offering a $1 discount for her business, Maria's Catering.

After study, the solicitor's office determined the coupon wasn't an inducement for a vote, just a coupon for anyone to use, regardless of whom they voted for.

Assistant solicitor Gene Ferace said the law stipulates candidates cannot buy votes, "but this (flier) wasn't handed out only to people who voted for Maria DiPiazza." He said people who supported other candidates also received the handout.

DiPiazza, noting she'd "never do anything illegal," said she checked with election officials prior to distributing the flier. She added that the coupon, her daughter's idea, was viewed as a good marketing strategy.

For the record, DiPiazza was among three incumbents bounced by voters in the school board race. Directors Lillian Fisher and Ralph Conde also failed to receive nominations.

WRITE-IN 101. Former Fayette County Magisterial District Judge Rick Vernon didn't expect a Republican contender to stand in the way of his quest for a seat on the South Union Township board of supervisors, so when a challenger appeared, he attempted to avoid a general election battle.

Vernon, the lone Democrat on the ballot, mounted an aggressive write-in campaign before and during Tuesday's primary to secure both the Democrat and Republican nominations.

A South Union Republican, Louis "Weeger" Agostini, was the lone candidate seeking his party's nomination.

At the polls, Vernon was seen showing Republican voters how to vote for him as a Republican write-in. Having been a magisterial judge for more than two decades, Vernon said he was used to cross-filing, a tactic that can't be used in a supervisor's race.

The success or failure of Vernon's write-in campaign won't be known until ballots are counted and the vote is certified.

BAD BILL

If you're looking for a book to browse at the shore this summer, we have a recommendation: Candice E. Jackson's "Their Lives: The Women Targeted by the Clinton Machine."

The book, published by World Ahead Publishing, will be released on May 31 -- coincidentally, the same day as the paperback version of Bill Clinton's best-selling memoir, "My Life."

According to a news release from the publisher, Jackson purports to show how the former president "used his political power to harass, intimidate and terrorize women who got in his way.

"The pattern of threats, bribes, and coercion that this book uncovers reveals not only a cold-blooded willingness on the part of Clinton, his wife, and their inner circle to maintain power at any cost, but it also exposes the undeniable connection between Clinton's misogynist tendencies and his liberal agenda."

Clinton sexual harassment accuser Kathleen Willey calls the book "the most accurate portrayal of the true nightmare Bill and Hillary put me through."

Jackson once worked for Judicial Watch, a Washington-based public interest law firm.

-- compiled by Tribune-Review staff

• Most Read
• Most E-mailed
• Latest News