It's Official: Ravenstahl is a Frightened Little Wuss

Pittsburgh's interim mayor, Luke "The Debate Chicken" Ravenstahl, has now spent exactly four straight weeks cowering in fear and attempting to evade any and all debates with his opponent in the May Democratic primary, City Councilmember Bill "Cojònes" Peduto. The challenge was issued by Mr. Peduto on Monday, 19th February 2007. It has yet to be responded to in any substantive fashion by either Master Ravenstahl or the adults who control his every waking thought. For a while, it seemed somewhat possible to believe -- just maybe -- that Master Ravensthal's failure to respond was due solely to ordinary scheduling conflicts. But it's been four weeks at this point. Mr. Peduto has issued his challenge again and again, and has offered to "bend over backwards" to fit the interim mayor's schedule. The only reasonable conclusion, after nearly a month of ducking the challenge, is that Luke Ravenstahl is simply afraid to put his ideas before the people of Pittsburgh, and that he is terrified of confronting Mr. Peduto one-on-one.

I recognize that, in this particular post, I am using much stronger language than usual. While I have long been a critic of Master Ravenstahl and his administration, I usually attempt to maintain some level of decorum in these discussions. But, to put it plainly, I am finally -- and quite justifiably -- completely pissed off. There is no excuse for this kind of behavior by the interim mayor. He is shortchanging every last one of us, including those who are firmly and irreversibly on his side. He is denying us any opportunity to look into his eyes and judge his ability to think on his feet. And even more importantly, he is preventing us from gaining understand anything at all about his plans for our city's future.

He should be ashamed, but it would seem that he is well beyond shame at this point.

I recognize that there are those of you are firmly behind Interim Mayor Ravenstahl in this election. This post probably angers many of you. But I ask that you set aside your anger for a few seconds and hear me out. Because this continual refusal to hold any debates whatsoever is hurting you and your city just as surely as it is hurting me and everyone else who lives here. Nobody is being well served by this cowardly behavior. Not you, not me, and not even Luke Ravenstahl himself.

Political competition is critical to the functioning of a democracy. The crucible of competition is often the only thing that truly moves us forward, vapid slogans notwithstanding. We are all best served when there is at least a bit of heat being applied to our elected leaders. Even when we are firmly on their side, they still do their best work for us when they are facing the heat of competition. By refusing to debate Mr. Peduto -- by cowering in fear over the very prospect of doing so -- Master Ravenstahl is allowing this election to descend into something approaching a coronation. By refusing to subject himself to any kind of confrontation, he is denying himself the opportunity to define his views and to refine his own political skills. Should he allow himself to take an easy walk to victory on May 15th, he will have no reason to even consider the needs of anyone apart from himself and those within his immediate circle.

Ultimately, this isn't about who will win the election. The likely results of the primary are becoming increasingly clear by the day, and very few of us honestly expect Mr. Peduto to win. Luke Ravenstahl is likely to triumph, regardless of what occurs at any debate with his opponent. Quite frankly, Master Ravenstahl seems to be a fairly capable speaker, especially when he is well prepared with a set of semi-scripted remarks. And any minor mistakes on his part would be easily compensated for in the minds of most voters, who would just figure that one can't expect perfection from somebody so young, and would fall back into a "give the kid a chance" mindset. He has nothing to fear from debating, and yet the overwhelming sense is that he remains, nevertheless, terrified of doing so.

For those of you who are tempted to repeat the claim, as Interim Mayor Ravenstahl himself did in yesterday's Tribune-Review, that his campaign is working hard to resolve all of the details surrounding these debates, I would ask you to spare us. The story is bullshit, and everyone knows it. There is no way in hell that it could possibly take four whole weeks to negotiate these details. The Ravenstahl campaign is clearly stalling, clearly afraid, and clearly shortchanging the voters of our city by refusing to engage in these debates.

It is, truly, time for someone to break out the chicken suit.