HARRISBURG - There's nothing wrong with what Michael Diven is trying to do. It's certainly legal. But during my two-and-a-half decades as a reporter in Pennsylvania, few things have struck me as being this odd.
Diven is a Democrat state House member from Pittsburgh. He joined the Legislature last year in a special election after the former state representative from the 22nd District, Democrat Frank Gigliotti, was sent to prison on corruption charges.
Diven is promoting a trip next month to Cuba to help bolster Pennsylvania's trade status with the Communist island regime 90 miles off of the Florida coast.
A former member of Pittsburgh City Council, Diven has had anything but a low profile during his brief stint so far in Harrisburg.
Though the rule of thumb is that freshmen are to be seen but not heard, Diven broke all the rules when he went after his own Democrat leadership. After the new state legislative redistricting plan surfaced, he sent an e-mail House-wide blasting Minority Leader Bill DeWeese, a Greene County Democrat.
That too was unusual - even commendable.
But the Cuban trip is the item that makes the least sense. In a Jan. 3 memo to all House members, Diven invited other lawmakers to attend the U.S. Cuba Sister Cities Conference.
Diven said he would pay his own way. House Speaker Matthew Ryan, a Delaware County Republican, couldn't have agreed more that Diven should pay his own way.
Ryan's office told the Trib flatly that lawmakers could not charge the taxpayers for the trip. Ryan quite appropriately views trips to Cuba regarding trade as the purview of the federal government, not the state Legislature.
It would clearly amount to a junket at taxpayers' expense - you know, House members basking in the Caribbean sun while their constituents are still scraping snow and ice off of their vehicles back in the 'Burg. Those attending the conference will stay at a plush resort.
A Republican state House member who received Diven's letter was incredulous that Diven would be promoting a trip for state lawmakers to visit Cuba. There's has been no interest, according to the House speaker's office. "I haven't heard from a single member," said Roger Nick, Ryan's chief of staff.
There are a couple reasons Diven's travel itinerary is odd.
For one, the United States still maintains an embargo on most trade with Cuba. This was the country that housed nuclear missiles for its former Soviet masters. The missile crisis of 1962 pushed the world to the brink of nuclear war.
The permitted exceptions under narrow conditions are food and medicine. Diven figures this is a great opportunity to showcase Pennsylvania's agricultural products.
That's a wonderful thought, but the state Department of Agriculture - the agency charged with promoting Pennsylvania's farm products - thinks it's a bad idea because of the U.S. embargo.
The last time I checked there weren't any farms on the South Side. According to Diven, there aren't any pharmaceutical manufacturers either.
But Pennsylvania has plenty of both. Diven's reasoning is that if Pennsylvania's economy is helped overall then his district will benefit indirectly.
Look, I have no idea why Diven thinks Cuban trade and promoting Cuba is such a big deal. He maintains that it is unfair and illogical to maintain an embargo against Cuba when U.S. businessmen do business with Russians and/or other former enemies like North Vietnam.
The Cold War is over, so wise up, he seems to be saying. That's all fine, well and good, but none of these other former threats are in our hemisphere, 90 miles away.
All of these points are debatable. The question that kept leaping out at me was why this guy could not find a better way to use his time and energy to help his constituents.
