POLITICS: County Exec. candidates pledge campaign finance reforms
As the race to replace outgoing Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald increasingly centers on allegations of misconduct, candidates are scrambling to present themselves as upright reformists.
Executive hopefuls Dave Fawcett and Sara Innamorato have both issued loud calls for campaign finance reform in the past week, while Michael Lamb is promoting a “Pledge of Good Governance” for all current and aspiring officials.
Fawcett and Innamorato criticized Allegheny County’s lax campaign finance laws which set no limits on how much an individual donor can contribute to a campaign. They have suggested instead that the county follows Pittsburgh in pegging donor limits to those set by the Federal Elections Committee.
They also criticized the long gaps between campaign contribution reports filed by county political candidates under the current calendar. Innamorato says she’s taken initiative by uploading to her website a live list of all individual donations received by her campaign.
“I want to create an honest, transparent, and responsible county government,” she said. “And I'm not just here to talk about it.”
Fawcett was the first to come out on the finance reform agenda, holding a press conference March 17 where he took aim at frontrunner John Weinstein’s deep war chest.
“There should be reasonable limits on campaign contributions in Allegheny County, and as county executive I'll get that done,” he said.
Weinstein, who was accused of leveraging campaign support for a vote to maintain his endangered ALCOSAN board seat, recently turned the tide on Lamb, announcing during a press conference Friday that the city controller and county executive hopeful employs a staffer who lives outside the city.
Weinstein has also denounced the allegations against him as “rumors, outright falsehoods, and innuendos slung by competitors.”
Also this week, executive candidate Liv Bennett announced she has dropped out of the race. The primary election will take place on May 16.
INFRASTRUCTURE: POGOH plans bike station expansion
Bike Share Pittsburgh, the nonprofit operator of the POGOH bikeshare, has announced plans to expand the POGOH network throughout the city.
Through the addition of 22 new bike stations, POGOH will bring its first stations to Hazelwood, Stanton Heights, and more North Side neighborhoods, according to a press release.
The operator will also connect its existing network to the Wilkinsburg station on the East Busway and beef up its presence in Oakland. This planned expansion will be funded by a grant from the Federal Highway Administration aimed at minimizing congestion and improving air quality. Planned changes to the pricing structure will also make it cheaper to rent electric bikes.
ENVIRONMENT: City wide plastic bag ban delayed until fall
A city-wide ban on plastic bags set to take effect next month will be delayed until October so that businesses can prepare for a smooth transition, Mayor Ed Gainey’s office announced last week.
The ban, passed by city council last April with a 12-month implementation delay, prohibits retailers from supplying any bags other than ones made from recycled paper. Proponents claim it could prevent more than 100 million plastic bags from entering circulation each year.
In his release noting the delay, Gainey said more time is now needed to allow retailers and consumers to prepare.
“This extra time will allow us to do the work to be able to enact this policy with proper guidance for everyone in order to make this as smooth as possible for all of us,” he said.
