Upcoming Politics in the Pittsburgh region

**D-FENS** · April 14th, 2008, 10:44 AM

Folks,

I am wondering if there's anyone that can share some information with me.

First off, I am not registerd as a Democrat and most of you aren't either. For the registered Democrats, there are 3 people running for State House District 21. This covers Bloomfield, Stanton Heights, Morningside and parts of Highland Park, Lawrenceville, Shadyside, Friendship and Garfield. It extends to the northern suburbs of Reserve, Ross, Shaler, O'Hara, Sharpsburg, Aspinwall, Etna, Millvale and Sharpsburg.

FYI: If you're not a Democrat, you have no choice and no voice in this election.

So, the 3 candidates are
Len Bodack
Brenda Frazier
Dom Costa

Why is this important?

This is important because Lisa Bennington held this seat for the last term. She's not running for office (She's not a fan of Representative Gov't. Someone should have told her to run for Governor since she wants to be a dictator). For those that aren't aware, Lisa Bennington is extremely anti-gun. She's tagged her name to numerous Anti-Gun bills and then rescinded sponsorship at the first sign of uproar. Needless to say, she still votes for these bills, blindly.

So, we've got an anti-gun legislator on the way out and ??? on the way in.

Here's an article on the candidates.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt.../s_560791.html

FYI: Brenda Frazier supported the Drink Tax!!!

That rules her out, of course. I get the impression that this person isn't successful at anything. She can't seem to stick with a profession and excel at it. This is evidenced by her elected office-hoping. She's also a racist and nepotist.(IMO)

That leaves us with Dom Costa and Len Bodak

Dom Costa was a very brief Police Chief of Pittsburgh. He was shot in 2002 and that somehow made him incapable of being Police Chief in 2006? But he's OK to be a House Representative now? I don't get it and his website totally sucks. Frankly, I think his platform is retarded. In typical political fashion, he states idealist positions without any real information on how he'll accomplish or exactly what it is he'd like to accomplish. He seems to be the leader locally however.

Len Bodak was ousted from City Council in 2007? Frankly, I'm not a fan of anyone in City Council BUT he does have the Firearm Owners Against Crime endorsement. He also touts that he's a member of Allegheny Country Rifle Club. I'm not entirely sure what this is worth to us. Seems to me that if Mitt Romney can be a Lifetime NRA member then this guy can join a gun club... At any rate, he does have the FOAC endorsement and that's a huge step up from Lisa Bennington (current Rep).

In summary, we need to give this race a little more attention. While most of us have no say in this election, it's important that we at least throw some support to the best candidate. I *do not* know who that is and would like anyone that knows about these candidates to pipe up.

DON'T FORGET THE DRINK TAX!!!

FOAC-PAC Flier here

**LittleRedToyota** · April 14th, 2008, 11:18 AM

len bodack was my city council rep until he got voted out.

i always voted for him. he...and jim ferlo (who is now a state senator, but also used to be a city council rep)...were always two pro-gun voices in a sea of anti-gunners on the pittsburgh city coucil.

if your main concern is gun rights, bodack is your man.

**D-FENS** · April 14th, 2008, 11:55 AM

My main concern is not having a fucking tool in office like Lisa Bennington.

I've done some reading up on Dom Costa. Let me preface this by saying that I am NOT a Pittsburgher. I moved here 4 years ago and can't wait to move out. City and county politics are thoroughly corrupt (not to mention State...thanks Eddie and Co.). This may be common knowledge, I don't know but from what I am reading, his gunshot was due to him grand-standing. While this isn't unusual for people with political families and similar aspirations, the fact of the matter is that Dom Costa nearly got another office killed.

He comes from the Costa political dynasty. His family is entrenched in local and state politics. He was all but fired as Police Chief, too. His appointment wasn't well received and after the death of the Mayor, he was all but fired from his position for incompetence. His only life-line was to run against Ravenstahl for Mayor.

Look, the Pittsburgh political scene is shit. Our representatives represent developers, special interests and their own nepotism. We can do much better than current and much better than the Dom Costa's that plague Pittsburgh.

Dominic Costa's sister, Debra Costa, is a Penn Hills councilwoman. He has two cousins in the state Legislature -- Sen. Jay Costa, of Forest Hills, and Rep. Paul Costa, of Wilkins. Their brother, Guy Costa, is Pittsburgh's Public Works director. Another cousin, Ron Costa, is a district judge in Bloomfield.

How about some fiscal conservatives to reign in our debt?

If I had the chance to vote, I feel that Len Bodack is the only choice I could make.

**pghplr** · April 14th, 2008, 01:19 PM

Sounds like I'm in the same boat as you over here in the 27 district. Which includes the 20th and 28th Wards of Pittsburgh, Crafton, Ingram, Dormont, McKees Rocks, Stowe, Glenfield, Neville Island, Avalon, Ben Avon and Emsworth.

According to the ACSL, I have no good choices. So what to do?

**FentFV** · April 17th, 2008, 12:41 PM

The Costas are everywhere, and he may just get the nod because of name recognition. Honestly, how many people do you think actually put this much deliberation into their choice?

Anecdotal aside: Many years ago, my ex-wife and I bought an item from a friend...the item turned out to be stolen. We found ourselves at the Federal St. Police Station being grilled in "good cop, bad cop" fashion. It turns out that Costa was "bad cop." I still find that funny

**41 Redhawk** · April 17th, 2008, 03:05 PM

Originally Posted by pghplr

Sounds like I'm in the same boat as you over here in the 27 district. Which includes the 20th and 28th Wards of Pittsburgh, Crafton, Ingram, Dormont, McKees Rocks, Stowe, Glenfield, Neville Island, Avalon, Ben Avon and Emsworth.

According to the ACSL, I have no good choices. So what to do?

I don't think the republicans are even putting up a candidate for this election. None of the three Dems are progun. At least Petrone was progun.

**pghplr** · April 19th, 2008, 11:59 PM

Originally Posted by 41 Redhawk

I don't think the republicans are even putting up a candidate for this election. None of the three Dems are progun. At least Petrone was progun.

Yeah, I liked Petrone. He always did well with the voters even with his pro-gun stance.
Of the ones running, I don't know much about them. Their little pamphets don't give much info on anything. Nor do their websites. I think its just ugly all the way around for us here. I've only dealt with Deasy once and it was a very good encounter. I was in an ugly dispute with the school board for 3 months. When they closed my kids school, they put him in a school far from my house instead of the school less than 1/4 mile from me. According to their maps, I was in the "other" zone. Yet......my kid had to walk to the school by me to catch the bus!!!! On their property. The school by me doesn't start until later in the morning so the school zone lights wern't on when my kid needed to cross a busy street. The Board said I'd need to put a request in writing to have them turned on earlier. And that they'd reveiw it within 6 months to see if they'd then decide to ask the city to turn them on. I was told that the chances of having them turned on were almost zero just for one kid. I called Deasy(first and only time) explained the situation and the very next morning, they were on. That day, he left a message on my machine letting me know he had it done. I didn't call back cause I had to go to work. But the next day he called again and we spoke for awhile.
Sorry for the long story(I could make it longer) lol I'd re-up if I knew we were gonna fight the Pittsburgh School Board.

And there's the problem. My family and the protection of them could easily be challenged by my choices here. So what are you supposed to do? Terry, why don't you run for office, that would make the decision alot easier.

**41 Redhawk** · April 21st, 2008, 03:01 PM

Terry, why don't you run for office, that would make the decision alot easier.

Because by law, I'd have to quit my job to run for a partison office! What you last name Mike and I will write you in!

Douglas used to work for Petrone but doesn;t seem to have his progun stance. All three of them said they would have voted the loss or stolen report legislation.

Deasy and Douglas are pro-life. Paul is pro-choice. All are true liberals in the spending and tax departments. Deasy big campaign points are how much money he has raised and spent while a city councilman.