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Rudiak gets challenger

Published by Tim McNulty on .

Former postal worker and basketball coach John Lee of Brookline announced his plans to run today against incumbent city councilwoman Natalia Rudiak of Carrick. Lee is filing for the Democratic committee endorsement in the District 4 race, and the deadline for seeking the party machinery nod is today.

Lee coached Seton La-Salle to a WPIAL championship in 1989, with a future UNC player at center. From the P-G's high school sports expert Mike White:

Seton-LaSalle enjoyed plenty of success in the old Catholic League when the school was all male and known as South Hills Catholic before joining the WPIAL in the mid 1970s. The Rebels have been in a WPIAL championship game seven times, but won only once, in 1989. That 1989 team was coached by John Lee and featured 6-11 center Kevin Salvadori, who went on to play at the University of North Carolina and was a member of the Tar Heels' 1993 national championship team. Salvadori played 39 games in the NBA with the Sacramento Kings. The last time Seton-LaSalle played in a WPIAL title game was 2000 and the Rebels' leading scorer was Bruce Gradkowski (20 ppg), who is now a backup quarterback for the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals.


Lee, 52, has spent the last 12 years broadcasting basketball and football games for the MSA sports radio network.

Though he does not know Mayor Luke Ravenstahl personally, Lee said the city's southern neighborhoods would benefit from having a councilor who relates better to the Ravenstahl administration than Rudiak, a regular Ravenstahl critic.

"The district has been shortchanged, especially over the last four years due to the acrimoniouis relationship between Natalia and the administration," he said. "From my coaching and managment background I have a good ability to deal with people."

Rudiak meanwhile has already raised $119,630 for her reelection effort, which her campaign notes is twice what she spent in her first run in 2009. "We're excited to get the campaign started and we're confident we'll secure a victory" the in May 21 primary, campaign manager John Fournier said. "No one can approach the amount of work Natalia has done in the neighborhoods the last four years."

Press release from Lee after the jump:

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County will consider pushing back assessment appeal deadline next week

Published by Andrew McGill on .

County council agreed today to consider an ordinance re-opening property assessment appeals through April 1, holding open the door for folks upset about their tax bill.

In a reassessment as contentious as this, voting to allow more appeals would seem a slam-dunk decision for council. After all, the county previously told property owners they would have to wait until 2014 to file the next challenge for their overvalued Mt. Washington parking spots.

But believe it or not, the extension proposed by County Executive Rich Fitzgerald still took shots from some members of the government review committee.

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Lamb loans self $50K

Published by Tim McNulty on .

Pittsburgh controller Michael Lamb's 2012 finance report is finally online following those by fellow Dem mayoral contenders Luke Ravenstahl and Bill Peduto.

Of the $161K he raised from individual contributions, $50K came in a lump sum from his city controller account listed as a self-loan, which his challengers may say is at odds with the city's campaign finance law (capping PAC contributions at $8K per cycle and individuals at $4k).

 Lamb 2012 report

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Ravenstahl nearing $1M mark

Published by Tim McNulty on .

In addition to his 2012 campaign finance report, Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl has also filed a January report indeed showing a big time cash advantage over challenger Bill Peduto (and presumably Michael Lamb though we haven't seen his reports). He brought in an extra $183K in January.

Some of the contributions are maxed-out at the $8,000 PAC/$4,000 individual ceiling, so under the city's campaign finance law the mayor's team can only spend half of those proceeds for the May 21 primary.

UPDATE: See the breakdown of the mayor's biggest contributors below.

Ravenstahl Jan report

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Ravenstahl: $750K and counting

Published by Tim McNulty on .

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's campaign has filed it's 2012 year-end finance report showing it raised $500K the last calendar year (on top of $342K it already) had, spent $78K and ended the year with $748K. When January collections are included the incumbent's team says it's going to have more than $909K on-hand, which would give it a step up on Democratic challengers Bill Peduto and Michael Lamb when laying down the money for TV, mail and other pricey needs.

More later as we read the report.

UPDATE: Ravenstahl's hefty financing totals are buttressed by PACS and individuals giving the full $8,000 and $4,000 respectively allowed. Under city campaign finance law only half of such receipts can be used in the primary with the balance reserved for the general election.

Counting his other report too, PACs giving him the full $8K include those for: Steamfitters Local 449, state Rep. Adam Ravenstahl (the mayor's brother), Firefighters Local No. 1 and Carpenters of Western Pa, PA Future, and city councilman Rickey Burgess.

Individuals at the funding cap include "The Ford King" Richard Bazzy, Duquesne Light CEO Morgan O'Brien, Penguins CEO David Morehouse, Joseph White of Carl Walker construction, Patricia Mistick of Allegheny West, Benjamin Brown of Benyon & Co., John Stabile of Alco Parking and Janet Hunt of Squirrel Hill.

Ravenstahl 2012 report

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