Good News, Smothered in a Light Bullshit Sauce

There is at least something to smile about in Pittsburgh this evening. Dennis Regan has finally resigned from city government, and is no longer being handed our tax dollars to sit at home and watch "The View". The only thing that tempers my joy at this development is that is has been accompanied by this nonsensical claim by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl that his investigation found "... no conclusive evidence that [Mr. Regan] committed any wrongdoing."

My respect for Mr. Ravenstahl is beginning to drop precipitously every freaking time he opens his mouth.

My guess is that the Mayor's statement is factually correct in a strict semantic sense, depending on how one defines the terms "conclusive" and "wrongdoing". But it has been clearly obvious ever since former mayor Bob O'Connor first appointed Mr. Regan that he was a fish out of water in city government. He had zero experience going in, was handed a hefty amount of power in a very short period of time, became our mayor-in-everything-but-name during Mr. O'Connor's illness, and continued to wield considerable influence during the first few weeks of the Ravenstahl administration. Almost anyone in that situation, having been handed so much power and influence without the benefit of any real experience, would slip up from time to time and use that power for personal benefit. It's actually pretty understandable, especially once Mayor O'Connor got sick and wasn't available to provide the guidance and oversight that would have helped check any selfish impulses.

This was yet another one of those situations where a simple apology, a recusal from any further participation in the disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Regan's defacto brother-in-law (Detective Francis Rende), and a vow to learn from these mistakes would have worked far better than the usual indignant denials. Such an approach might not have saved Mr. Regan's bacon; his credentials were pretty shaky to begin with, his role in the firing of Chief of Staff B.J. Leber, Solicitor Susan Malie, and Finance Director Paul Leger cast real doubts about his judgement, and his appointment by Mayor Ravenstahl as Public Safety Director was so ridiculously unsupportable that it cast Mr. Regan in a very harsh spotlight of public scrutiny. But it might have softened the widespread public condemnation a little bit. And it certainly would have helped prop up Mayor Ravenstahl's credibility by sparing him the necessity of supporting Mr. Regan's unsupportable conduct.

Speaking of our mayor, this a crucial time for him. He appears to be in the midst of a downward spiral, and will need to take some bold actions to get out of it. Mr. Regan's resignation removes one more unqualified crony from city government; Mayor Ravenstahl would be well served to get rid of any others who are still hanging on. It's also time for the mayor to seize on some genuinely new ideas of his own instead of simply rehashing the same old tired slogans from the O'Connor administration.

There still is time for Luke Ravenstahl to use youthful idealism and enthusiasm to push through some real improvements in city government. But if the past 3 months are any indication, that kind of dynamic leadership seems very unlikely to reveal itself.