Redstate

Another heavy D area seems to be giving an R a chance

By Adam C Posted in 2007 — Comments (2) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

The actual city of Pittsburgh is a heavily Democratic area of about 325,000 people. The last Republican Mayor was elected in 1926. In 2005, Bob O'Connor (D) won an open race for Mayor over the Republican, 67-28. Mayor O'Connor died in office and current Mayor Luke Ravenstahl (D) inherited the office at the age of 26. Since that time, Ravenstahl has encountered several ethics and corruption problems.

As evidence that responsible Democrats are considering abandoning Ravenstahl's leadership of the city, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette endorsed Republican Mark DeSantis. This is the first Republican the Gazette has endorsed since 1969. In their words:

Call it youth, inexperience or simply lack of judgment, Mayor Ravenstahl began treating the city to a series of well-publicized disappointments, embarrassments and outrages, and he was slow to accept responsibility for some of his actions.

On the substance of governing, too, Mayor Ravenstahl has left much to be desired...

The 48-year-old former aide to the late Sen. John Heinz is a high-tech businessman and consultant. With a Ph.D. in public policy, he is an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University, but he's no ivory-tower geek....

He wants to approach long-standing problems in a different way. Besides extracting more voluntary contributions from tax-exempt institutions, Mr. DeSantis says Pittsburgh should look beyond cash and, for instance, negotiate a deal with UPMC, the region's most profitable nonprofit, to provide health care for city retirees. He wants an ethics policy for city officials and employees that prohibits all freebies and uses an ethics compliance officer for enforcement. He wants city departments not just to operate well but to be judged against other cities' performance.

Mr. DeSantis, who lives Downtown and works on the South Side, is articulate, forceful and persuasive in his goals for change. As a self-proclaimed nonpolitician, he is refreshing and even chafes at the notion that mayoral politics expects him to "pound my chest and say I'm great." That's not him, he said. "I'll tell you what I don't know." Yet, in reality, there's not much he doesn't know.

One thing we do know is the Republican, this year, can win. With $285,000 raised in cash and in-kind contributions, more than any recent mayoral candidate from his party, the DeSantis challenge has a shot.

More below:

Five years ago, [DeSantis] co-founded Citizens for Democratic Reform, a group that championed the successful drive to consolidate county row offices, saving taxpayer dollars. He was chosen by Jim Roddey, the first county chief executive, to lead his economic development transition team, the New Idea Factory. With such a reformist pedigree, a Republican mayor like Mr. DeSantis will be able to add to the Democratic support the city already gets from Harrisburg and Washington the GOP backing that has eluded Pittsburgh for so long.

He is tired of a city that puts up new buildings and sunny facades without adding net new jobs and businesses. He's heard enough talk and seen too little action on city-county consolidation, especially when both entities are led by Democrats. He's grown impatient with the sacred cows preserved by one-party rule, whether it's the number of fire stations, the size of the city budget or a lax approach to ethical behavior....

If the number of Post-Gazette readers reading this editorial agree he should win, then he will win. These readers, these voters, have that kind of power, even though some of them may have voted for few or no Republicans in the past. Other "Democratic" cities, after all, have had successful Republican mayors -- New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, to name a few. In Pittsburgh, plenty of disaffected Democrats and others have been waiting for a credible candidate to return two-party democracy, debate and decision-making to the city.

That would be the first big change under Mark DeSantis. For Pittsburgh, it should be the start of many more.

Democrats for DeSantis are blogging vociferously in support of Mr. DeSantis. Ravenstahl's primary opponent has pointedly failed to endorse the Mayor and has said many good things about DeSantis and his issues.

The University of Pittsburgh News also endorsed DeSantis:

While DeSantis represents a sort of anti-Ravenstahl - he's a 48-year-old Republican high-tech businessman and consultant who has also served as an adviser for the late Sen. John Heinz and holds a Ph.D. in public policy - his ideas aren't that out of sync with what many Democrats want for our city.

Maybe it's because city politics don't really embody the prototypical conservative/liberal, Republican/Democratic philosophies. Mayors have no authority on social issues - which represent a huge factor in state and national elections. Essentially, running a city is like running a business - the most important issues are progress, development and economic success.

And DeSantis has demonstrated that he is capable of promoting all of these issues. He wants to extract more voluntary contributions from tax-exempt institutions, provide health care for city retirees and create an ethics policy for city officials that prohibits them from accepting freebies. His policies extend toward Pitt students and Oakland residents, as well. He wants to bring more parking into Oakland - and not just by building parking garages. He wants to strike a deal with Pitt and Carnegie Mellon to develop more university-owned housing.

Ultimately, DeSantis' biggest strength is also his biggest weakness: He's a Republican. While his platform promises changes that most Pittsburghers would agree with, his status as a Republican makes him a less likely victor, for no other reason than party-line voting.

For Pitt students voting in the mayoral elections next week, we challenge you: Before you vote down party lines, think about the candidates. Party aside (or not aside), who promises a better future for Pittsburgh?

We vote DeSantis.

If you agree donate here or volunteer if you are in the neighborhood.