Here he is folks.  Click on this link to see your next governor.   http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyesawfoto/2692011345/page2/

(Thanks to Nonac, whose flickr file provided this image)

Crowd to Dan:  “BOOOOOOO!!!!!!!”

Spotlight hogger Dan the Dictator was also booed as he rode in a car down the route for the Steelers victory parade a few days after the Super Bowl.  Steeler Fans clearly do not love Dan. 

“BOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!”

Tom Paine finds it a little pathetic when politicians jump in front of the camera to try to get a little undeserved glory when a local sports team does well. 

Dan the Dictator found out the hard way that this ungracious act can have unanticipated negative consequences. 

At the pre-Super Bowl pep rally at Heinz Field, the County Diminutive was introduced to address the crowd, some 30,000 strong.  He was loudly and vociferously booed.  This occurred some 13 months after the Drink Tax was imposed and a month after he claimed, to an out of town reporter, that the Drink Tax was a non-issue in Allegheny County. 

The booing was so vicious that Tom Paine’s correspondent, an ardent anti-Drink Taxer, confessed that she was “embarrassed” for him. 

“Dan, it’s called the law of supply and demand . . . .  Let me explain.”

We all know that Dan the Dictator is a CPA and an attorney, as well as the smartest guy in any room not occupied by Barack Obama.  Now we also know know definitively that the County Diminutive is no economist. 

Dan the Dictator has continually claimed that the Drink Tax has had no negative economic impact in Allegheny County.  While a ridiculous claim on its face, it is made more ridiculous by figures released by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. 

The LCB has released its wholesale purchase figures to licensees from 2008.  The figures show that licensee purchases of beer and wine in Allegheny County were down in 2008 were down 4.2% from 2007 — thats $1,973,596 less than the previous year.  In the meantime, licensees in the five counties surrounding Allegheny purchses 4.2% more wine and liquor than the previous year.  Statewide, licensee purchases were up by .5%.  

Put another way, the increase in sales in the five surrounding counties accounted for 59% of the overall state increase. 

Wholesale wine and liquor are the raw materials in a restaurant and tavern’s final product, the retail drink.  If wholesale sales are down, so are retails sales.  The long and the short:  patrons are manifestly choosing to frequent restaurants and taverns in neighboring counties to Allegheny rather than in Allegheny County itself. 

Milton Friedman, we beseech you.  Come to Pittsburgh and give a lesson or two in Econ 101 to our County Diminutive. 

“Dan - it’s time for change.  Lower the Drink Tax now!”

Off the topic, an article in the Toronto Globe & Mail talks about the Portuguese wine Madiera being the toast of choice of presidents historically (appropos to our new President being inaugurated in a few days).  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090114.wdecanter14/BNStory/lifeFoodWine/home

Dan can toast himself with Madiera during his victory celebration in Harrisburg in 2010.  In his dreams.  

Nation’s Restaurant News ran a recent story noting that this is the most challenging time in history in the restaurant industry, and sharing survival strategies of national operators. 

http://www.nrn.com/breakingNews.aspx?id=362108&menu_id=1368

“Hey Dan - be sure to throw one down for me on Sunday!!!”

The County Diminutive, according to various talk radio sources, including Marty Griffin, is attending Sunday’s AFC Championship game as the guest of the Sports and Exhibition Authority. 

One can only hope that Dan the Dictator takes the opportunity to politely request that Aramark drop the price of its beer at Heinz Field now that the Drink Tax has been dropped to 7%. 

Hey, it could happen.  Dan frequently stands up to his big time corporate benefactors, if only to be consistent with his criticism of small businesspeople. 

It could happen.  It could also happen that Tom Paine gets a date with Scarlett Johannsen. 

“Dan - even I can see through your bull****”

Dan “the Dictator” Onorato, clearly on the “hopes to be governor” circuit, was kissing babies and making asinine statements at the state farm show outside of Harrisburg. 

According to the Post-Gazette, while at the farm show he was asked by a Philadelphia reporter whether the Drink Tax controversy had hurt his chances to be governor.  Dan “the Dictator” said no - the controversy was dead since the tax was lowered to 7%.  http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09012/941209-178.stm

Say what?  Dan - the Drink Tax was covered non-stop over the past two weeks when you had your rump slapped by a Judge for trying to bogart Drink Tax revenues for your own general pork projects.   If that was bad, just think what the conventional wisdom will be should the Referendum to lower the Drin Tax to .5% is placed on the ballot by the Supreme Court.  Or if a few of your quislings on County Council bite the dust this year  . . .

“Why don’t those nasty boys leave you alone, Dan?”

Joseph Sabino Mistick, erstwhile (read unsuccessful) judicial candidate, member of the Allegheny County political machine, and Luciano Pavrotti lookalike tells Drink Tax opponents in the Tribune Review that they have overplayed their hand.  http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_606454.html

First, he notes that the Drink Tax opponents should be satisfied with Dan’s (grudging) lowering of the tax to 7%, and appear ungrateful since they don’t.

Then, he somehow spins a court victory for Drink Tax opponents which prevented Onorato from transferring Drink Tax monies into a defeat.  Supposedly, this is because Dan the Dictator thinks he can direct Drink Tax monies overcollected in 2008 directly to the Pork Authority for capital projects.  That may be so, but it misses the point:  Because of this judicial decision, Dictator Dan cannot now or in the future stick his snout into the Drink Tax fund for his pet projects on the General Budget.  It also means it’s less likely that he will try to raise the tax back to 10%.   So please, Pavrotti, either think of the big picture or limit your comments to your local ward committee meetings.