Pittsburgh's last republican mayor served during the Depression. Democrats outnumber Republicans 5-1, but business executive Mark DeSantis has emerged as a serious challenger to Democratic incumbent Luke Ravenstahl, in part because of the young mayor's missteps.
DeSantis, who won the Republican mayoral nomination as a write-in, has government experience, is wooing black voters - despite their history of overwhelmingly rejecting GOP candidates - and is benefiting from a unique set of circumstances.
Ravenstahl is only 27 and was not elected to office. As City Council president, he was next in line to take over when Mayor Bob O'Connor died of brain cancer in September 2006.
Ravenstahl landed feel-good spots on David Letterman's Late Show and other national media outlets as the youngest mayor of a major U.S. city, but since then he has stumbled - several times.
Most recently, Ravenstahl was criticized for using a special police SUV bought with federal Homeland Security funds to take his wife and friends to a Toby Keith concert. Ravenstahl said he did not know how the vehicle was purchased, and stopped using it when he found out.
DeSantis, 48, runs a high-tech firm, was an aide to U.S. Sen. John Heinz, and was a science policy adviser to the first President Bush and did similar work in the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The first mayoral debate last Tuesday attracted a standing-room-only crowd, a sign the GOP has put forward a serious candidate and not just its traditional sacrificial lamb.
Make no mistake, city voters hold the survival of Pittsburgh in their hands. With all due respect to the late Mayor O'Conner, he was not the man for the job. Voters have been given another oppprtunity to make the right choice. Will they blindly vote for another democrat or will they give DeSantis a chance to prove himself.
I gave up on city government about 5 years ago when I moved out of the Pittsburgh city limits. I tired of the Mayor Murphy's attempt and building his vision of Utopia through "eminent domain" threats and without care who pays the bill.
We have all the resources we need in this region to be a great city. We need solid leadership to make it happen.
That is why I personally have chosen to endorse Mark DeSantis for Pittsburgh Mayor
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