Former PA Environmental Secretary likely pick for Obama's EPA chief

A member of Obama's transition team disclosed that former PA Secretary of Environmental Protection Katy McGinty is the Obama administration's likely pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency. If true (my campaign insiders have a good record thus far) this means two things. One - this would mean McGinty is no longer in the running for the PA gubernatorial race in 2010. A lot of us green freaks were hoping she would run, and if you heard her speak about the ways we can use environmentalism and going green to spur economic growth you would have too. The second thing this confirms is how all of Obama administration's cabinet selections are getting leaked to the media. Basically, members of the transition team are not always from Obama's inner circle, as they are a collection of business and thought leaders, academics, etc who are brought together to shape what will be the foundation of the administration's policy agenda. It is well known that Obama's inner circle doesn't talk to the press, but it seems to be the case that these new people are yapping to the press as well as random bloggers who ask them probing questions.

Word on the Street = Chelsa is Out

That sure has been the feeling out there, no disrespect to this anonymous blogger.

Michael Lamb is said to have bigger things on his mind. Doug Shields was bad intelligence to begin with. Bill Peduto was reported to have sworn off the possibility of another run. The new guys are just hitting their stride.

And then there's this:

Election season is never over in Pittsburgh.

Former President Bill Clinton -- who campaigned across Pennsylvania for his wife in the spring and for then-Sen. Barack Obama and U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Johnstown, in the fall -- will be in Pittsburgh next week at a fundraiser for Mayor Luke Ravenstahl.

Mr. Ravenstahl is hosting a $500-a-plate "holiday luncheon" next Wednesday at the Omni William Penn with Mr. Clinton as the featured guest. So far, about 150 invite-only guests have signed up for the noon lunch, said Fred Terling, the mayor's campaign manager.

Stupid Obama and his "transition".

If Ravenstahl is going to face opposition on Election Day this spring, it looks like it will have to be from someone unexpected and unusual. Given that unusual is not always bad! Certainly not when it comes to local government. Still, as they are saying these days: Hope is not a strategy.

Given that Luke Ravenstahl is going to be Our Mayor until 2013 ... whither forward?

A Farewell to the Best of the Burghoshpere

by Adm. Richmond K. Turner

In the end, nobody did it better than PittGirl. Srsly. But today (or was it last night?), with stunning alacrity, The Burgh Blog ceased to exist, and one of the most talented writers I have ever encountered has withdrawn from our presence.

Pittsburgh has lost a shining star of humor, intelligence, and the most wittiest of commentary.

Not only has she stopped posting, but the entirety of her work seems to have become inaccessible as well.

I hope you’ll trust me that I’m doing what I must do, for my comfort level, for my privacy and for my life.

Woy and I always knew this day was coming, but, like he said, that doesn’t make it any easier.

PittGirl is no more, but I’m still here. So I’m going to work very hard to find a way to continue to write about life, about my family, about our city, about our sports teams and about the oddities that make life interesting and an altogether fun ride.

I hope I can count on you all to accept my decision, and that means no more digging about who I am and what I do. And I hope I can count on the people that hold my secret in their hands to maybe put it away, lock it up and throw away the key.

She doesn't really say what happened to make her shut down the whole works, but I know how much she cherished her anonymity – as, indeed, I cherish my own – and I certainly hope that it was never compromised by readers who should have known better. If it was, those idiots ruined one of the best things about Pittsburgh for the rest of us.

But now is not the right time for recriminations. PittGirl did us all an incredible favor, without remuneration, for three long years. She brightened my day on countless occasions. Without her, and without TWM, my world has become a little less smart and joyful than it was before.

So thank you, PittGirl. Thanks for sharing your talent and energies with us, and know that you will be missed. Very missed. Srsly.

UPDATE: Local MSM coverage, as found in the Post-Gazette, WTAE, Pop City, and KDKA. And for those who feel the need to commiserate with others, PittGirl's wall on Facebook is rapidly filling with comments from her fans.

Around the Burghosphere: Winter Blues

Should we hold the billion-dollar bailouts over corporatists' heads until we get what we want? I say it's a no-brainer! (Slag Heap)

Is there any cause to throw our weight behind Rep. Keith McCall? Does anyone want to give anyone else a shout-out for PA Speaker? (414 Grant Street)

I don't know if it's a good post, but it's a long one. (Pgh Comet)

Take a breath ... sit down ... when you're ready, click here: (PittGirl)

Hometown Boy in Trouble with SEC

AP, via the Post-Gazette: Mark Cuban charged with insider stock trading

More from the Wall Street Journal:

Mr. Cuban, in a statement said, "I am disappointed that the Commission chose to bring this case based upon its Enforcement staff's win-at-any-cost ambitions. The staff's process was result-oriented, facts be damned. The government's claims are false and they will be proven to be so."

It sounds like by acting on information he received as a board member and selling his 6% stake in the embattled company, he allegedly beat the rest of the company's shareholders to the punch. Don't know how this one boils down legally or ethically.

Pittsburgh Ethics Board Obtuse, Orwellian

by Bram R
The headline reads: City Ethics Panel Skirts Law with Private Meeting

Here's what Post-Gazette senior no-fooling staff writer Timothy McNulty provided:

The board would not release its proposed regulations for gifts to city elected officials and workers, but from their public discussion they appear to go like this:

I've never read anything like that before in the MSM. Continuing...

• All gifts valued at $100 or more need to be reported and will be posted monthly on the board's Web site.

• Free tickets or participation in public events (including charity golf outings or ceremonies) are acceptable, provided officials are invited by the sponsoring organization and are serving in an official city capacity.

• Officials who are members of associations or boards are allowed to receive tickets related to that work. So if a council member is on the Sports & Exhibition Authority and gets Penguins tickets from the authority, that's OK

• Gifts valued at less than $100 do not have to be disclosed. Since ticket costs may be less than $100 but can pile up over a season, the rules would limit workers to receiving free tickets to no more than four events each year from any one donor or organization.

Right. So...

• There are no proposed limitations on gratuities city officials may accept from any class of persons -- merely disclosure regulations. Why?

• "Tickets" (disregarding admission to charity events for the time being) would be a specially protected class of gift. Why?

• Unless one is actually engaged in tourism, special events, or economic development marketing -- like, usually -- what makes a Steelers game work-related? Why can't VIPs be entertained, if necessary, by well-qualified (and no doubt underpaid) departmental staff, while our elected policy-makers and their staffs make a point of negotiating over steaks immediately prior to or after a game? That would send a powerful and repeated signal to the City's many business partners regarding our business ethics.

• Most $99 tickets would not even have to be disclosed under the proposed ordinances. Why not? That amounts to some good times to be had in secret for some reason at the Igloo, or the new Iceburgh, or Heinz Field, or um the Peterson Events Center -- all of which are associated with major development interests.

The Tribune-Review did some reporting as well:

Board Chairwoman Sister Patrice Hughes refused to release a detailed account of the recommendations until council members review them, but board members discussed some of them during a meeting yesterday.

"It's a hot-button issue," Sister Hughes said. "Let's not add fuel to the fire."

Wrong choice. No one should ever feel the need to bend the Sunshine Act to the point of breaking it. Those laws are there to help you. This is how problems get started.

Unfortunately, as Bob Mayo's ten posts over two years at the Busman's Holiday capture, this is a pattern already in "ethics" land.

Several to Contest for Deasy's Council Seat

Let's meet them, as the Tribune-Review would have us know them:

Georgia Blotzer, 59, of Mt. Washington, a retired special education teacher

Theresa N. Smith, 49, of Westwood, a special education coordinator

Brendan Schubert, 25, of Westwood, a Pittsburgh zoning code administrative officer

Tony Folino, 40, of Banksville, a supervisor and shareholder with Folino Electric Inc

Democrat Robert V. Frank, 39, of Mt. Washington has filed paperwork to run but could not be reached for comment

Shame on the Trib for describing Schubert as "a Pittsburgh zoning code administrative officer". There is no justification for smearing candidates like that, spreading wild and incendiary stories about their background.

What's that? Oh ... oh my. Matt, are you sure you don't want to jump in? What if we anonymously put up a Draft Hogue website?