Wrong again, Mr. Murphy.
Anyone remember Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy alleging the "fix" was in last year to award the city's sole slots license to Harrah's Entertainment for a Station Square casino?
Thomas "Tad" Decker, head of the state Gaming Control Board, certainly did.
Shortly after awarding a bunch of casino licenses across the state -- including one to a group headed by Detroit's Don Barden, who will operate the Majestic Star on Pittsburgh's North Shore -- Decker became irked when asked by reporters about Murphy's remark.
"It's hogwash. It's nonsense," he said. "Who was fixing what⢠It's insane."
Care to elaborate, Mr. Decker?
"How can people accuse us of this not being on a level playing field without having some facts⢠It irritates the hell out of me because it's not true."
Given the inaccuracy of the former mayor's comment, which he quickly retracted, it's hard to blame Decker for being a bit upset.
THE NAME GAME. While on a personal visit to the Vatican, Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll last week dropped in on what surely must have been a startled Pope Benedict XVI .
Although Knoll has been known to occasionally botch a name or two, we found the snickering speculation in political circles that she referred to the pope as "Bernie" kind of cruel for this time of year.
Regular followers of the McKees Rocks matron may recall this isn't the first time she has paraded up to a pontiff. Knoll also got to meet Pope John Paul II during a trip to Rome in 2003.
During last week's pilgrimage, Knoll also paid a visit to Francis Rooney, the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See.
DISAPPEARING ACT. We wanted to extend holiday greetings to the Allegheny County Republican Committee last week, but the committee's phone number at its Downtown office was mysteriously disconnected.
Looking for further information, we tried to access the committee's Web site, but that was ominously down as well.
Or maybe it's not so ominous. If we hadn't just reported those facts, would anyone have noticed?
SIGNS OF LIFE. At least the state GOP Committee provided evidence of a pulse last week.
Luke Bernstein was named the committee's new executive director. He succeeds Scott Migli, who joined the staff of Republican state Rep. John Perzel of Philadelphia.
Bernstein most recently served as deputy campaign manager on outgoing U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum's ill-fated re-election campaign. He previously was appointed by President George W. Bush as a special adviser in domestic finance at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
One of Bernstein's first acts probably should be to find out what the heck is going on with the Allegheny County GOP Committee.
'TIS THE SEASON ... for this column to speculate on what some of the region's most famous and infamous characters want for Christmas:
So without further ado:
- Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato: An initial printing of "Onorato for Governor" T-shirts in advance of his 2010 gubernatorial campaign.
- Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl: A new baseball bat to help him ward off bullies on the playground.
- Pittsburgh City Councilman Bill Peduto : The opportunity to corner Ravenstahl alone on the playground -- sans baseball bat -- so he can take Ravenstahl's lunch money and "persuade" him to exit the mayor's race.
- Pittsburgh Councilwoman Twanda Carlisle: A new MasterCard or Visa to replace the Capital One card she no longer can use after Capital One sued her, attempting to recover $4,000 in unpaid credit card debt.
- Outgoing U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum: A publisher for his upcoming book on the long-neglected yardwork awaiting him at his Penn Hills residence, tentatively titled "It Takes a Rake and a Lawn Mower."
- Incoming U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr: A new treadmill. ( Santa Claus probably assumes he could use one because he is always running for something.)
- Mellon Financial Corp. CEO Robert Kelly : Doesn't matter what he wants. Kelly gets a lump of coal after saying he couldn't imagine Mellon being anywhere but Pittsburgh, then merging Mellon with Bank of New York. Wanna guess where the combined company will be headquartered?
- Former Democrat state Rep. Mike Veon of Beaver Falls: A seat on the state Gaming Control Board, perhaps?
- Former state Senate Republican leaders Robert Jubelirer of Altoona and David "Chip" Brightbill of Lebanon County: A boatload of state contracts in their new roles as consultants.
- Penguins owner Mario Lemieux: He's not getting what he really wants -- a buyer for his hockey team -- this Christmas. Nothing else under the tree will compensate for that.
- Steelers President Art Rooney II: A quick decision by Coach Bill Cowher on whether he will return to the Steelers or retire to North Carolina.
- Steelers Coach Bill Cowher: Season tickets to 2007 North Carolina State football games, a Carolina Hurricanes sweatshirt and a Rand McNally road atlas of the Greater Charlotte area.
- Pittsburgh Pirates majority owners G. Ogden Nutting and Robert Nutting: New cloaks of invisibility. The ones they have are threadbare from being worn so often.
Merry Christmas, everyone.
CRIMSON HAWK? The popular Internet sports blog Deadspin.com has been poking fun at Indiana University of Pennsylvania's new nickname -- the Crimson Hawks.
Seems the university trustees chose a nickname remarkably like that of a fictional, adults-only cartoon heroine. She is called the Crimson Hawk.
The blond, buxom heroine is described on her Web site as "the world's sexiest, most powerful, and most frequently defeated, humiliated and ravished superheroine." It's enough to make even the most ardent IUP fan blush.
ANOTHER HONOR . U.S. Rep. John Murtha , the Johnstown Democrat, got a mention in Time magazine's popular Person of the Year issue.
The 32-year veteran of Congress was chosen by the magazine as one of the People Who Mattered in 2006 because of his stance on Iraq.
He was described as "a lonely voice that became a chorus" during the 2006 campaign when Democrats won control of Congress. In May, Murtha was awarded the 2006 Profile in Courage Award by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.
NOT BUDGING. Some taxpayers wish veteran Greater Latrobe School Director Kathryn "Kay" Elder would be as obstinate when negotiating teachers' contracts as she is when challenged as school board president.
It recently took two meetings and more than two dozen votes for Elder, who has served on the board for more than 20 years, to fend off a challenge from Director Rhonda A. Laughlin to hold the president's gavel.
When fellow Director George Trout suggested that both Elder and Laughlin step aside to allow the board to vote on another candidate, Susan Mains, after a series of 4-4 tie votes, Laughlin relented, but Elder refused to withdraw as a candidate.
An exasperated board eventually re-elected Elder on a 6-3 vote. By the way, Laughlin, an optometrist, is married to Westmoreland County Republican Committee Chairman Perry Christopher.
-- compiled by Tribune-Review staff
