Is this Dictator Dan?  Hmm . . . ?

At Large County Council Member Chuck McCullough, a former County Solicitor, noted at a press conference yesterday that if Dan Onorato wants to divert Drink Tax monies to direct funding of Port Authority capital projects, he will at least need to obtain the approval of County Council to do so.  The $20 million in Drink Tax overcollection is not chump change.  In Court last week, County Budget Director Amy Greiser was practically coughing up a hairball contemplating 2009 without the Drink Tax Funds.  

Yet Dictator Dan posits that he can redirect that money to capital spending for the Port Authority all on his lonesome, without any approval by County Council.  http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09007/940034-53.stm

This behavior by Dan is not surprising in the least.  Dictators do not normally like to consult with legislative bodies about how to spend money. 

The pathetic part is that the County Diminutive’s trained gerbils on County Council are only too happy to go along with him.  No member of Council, save McCullough, has voiced any opposition to the Dictator’s diversion of Drink Tax funds from the Port Authority to General Budget.  This is a complete abdication of their duties as legislators to review and approve county spending.  The Drink Tax majority on Council, however, is so beholden to the great and almight Dictator Dan that they can’t even see their role as pathetic little Quislings. 

That was County Council President Rich Fitzgerald stting out on the end of the tree limb in the Post-Gazette last Friday and on the Marty Griffin show on Monday morning.  While Fitz was singing from Dan’s songbook about having to raise property taxes since the County could not get their grubby snouts into the Drink Tax monies, Dan was straddling the same tree trunk sawing away on Fitz’s branch.  Dan disavowed Fitz’s comments several times after the County Diminutive’s press conference on Monday, including on Griffin’s show Tuesday morning. 

That shows what loyalty gets you . . .

From Tom Paine:

Chuck McCullough, former County Solicitor and recently seated At Large Member of County Council, has called a press conference at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, May 2, to announce a new initiative (appearing on the agenda on Tuesday, May 6), whereby the Drink Tax would be scaled back to five percent as of July 1, and then eliminated in January 2009. 

The press confernece will be held at the Council Conference room in the County Courthouse on Grant Street, downtown Pittsburgh.