Oct 31 2009
In Thursday's Post-Gazette, an ad was run by the Judicial Excellence Committee of the Allegheny County Bar Association concerning various candidates running for judicial positions. The ad has the appearance, intended or otherwise, of being an endorsement or nonendorsement of certain candidates. This is somewhat misleading, at least as it relates to the judicial races for courts that serve the entire state (i.e., Supreme, Superior and Commonwealth courts), not simply Allegheny County.
While I have no objection to the individual ratings in the ad, your readers should be aware that the committee rates only those candidates who live in Allegheny County or have their principal place of business here. Candidates from other parts of Pennsylvania are not permitted to obtain a rating, favorable or otherwise, from this committee. However, the ad gives the impression that the committee evaluated the entire field for those statewide races when they have not.
Thus, the ad should not be interpreted as a relative comparison between the local judges listed in it and those judges from other parts of the state who were not permitted to be evaluated by the committee. To view a bar association rating of all candidates, your readers may visit the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Web site at pavotesmart.com.
JOHN P. GISMONDI
Wilkins
The writer is a lawyer.
Oct 31 2009
This follows Barbara Behrend Ernsberger's Oct. 28 letter ("I Have the Experience to Serve on This Court").
I always read the Post-Gazette's recommendations before an election.
Recently I was shocked at your dismissing Barbara Behrend Ernsberger, who is a candidate for Commonwealth Court. In a brief sentence you stated that she was unqualified, based on a committee's evaluation. As pointed out in her letter, Ms. Ernsberger is very well qualified to be a Commonwealth Court judge. I suggest that you review her experience and record.
LEONARD KISSLINGER
Shadyside
Oct 31 2009
I am very disturbed with your comments in the editorial endorsing candidates for Commonwealth Court ("Split Ticket," Oct. 22).
Barbara Behrend Ernsberger, Democratic candidate for Commonwealth Court, is dedicated to supporting women's rights and civil rights. Her defense of voting rights is outstanding. Barbara represents the values of many Pittsburghers. We want judges who make fair and just decisions and who treat all plaintiffs and defendants equally under the law. The Democratic people registered their support of Barbara by ensuring she had the most votes in the primary. The people are families. Family law is critical in this day and age when impersonal corporations are given the same status as human beings.
Please consider that your readers are people, not corporations.
PAMELA MACKLIN
Wilkinsburg
Oct 31 2009
The media say the mayor's race is over. Franco Dok Harris doesn't stand a chance. And Pittsburgh Democrats just aren't tough enough to challenge the Ravenstahl-Zober machine. But the national media said that about another Franco Harris and group of Pittsburghers some 30 years ago - and out of nowhere, they snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
What gives me such hope? Nobody can predict what a voter will do when voting by secret ballot. Dok Harris and his family have played an important role in helping to elect progressive candidates, including in the previously right-wing suburbs of Allegheny County. They are, like many voters in the city, "small-d" democrats who see fair and open elections as the best way to advance the future of our party, county and country.
So please, tell your neighbors that they too can be part of this "miraculous election." All they have to do is pull the lever for a gifted young man who comes from a family we have all come to trust. That's right, it's time. "Give the ball to Dok."
STEPHANIE DANGEL
Sewickley Heights
The writer is with Citizens for Political Responsibility in the Greater Pittsburgh Region.
Oct 31 2009
As a regular reader of the Post-Gazette, I was extremely disappointed in your choices for Pennsylvania Superior Court ("Superior Picks," Oct. 26). We have in Western Pennsylvania the one candidate whose years of experience with the appellate system make him extremely qualified to be a Superior Court judge - Kevin McCarthy.
Following graduation from law school, Kevin worked for two years as a law clerk for a Superior Court judge. Furthermore, for the past 19 years he has worked in the appellate division of the Allegheny County district attorney's office. Kevin has made appellate law the focus of his entire career.
I have known Kevin for more than 10 years and find him to be extremely intelligent and hard-working as well as a personable and dedicated public servant. I would encourage everyone to get out next Tuesday and vote for Kevin Francis McCarthy for Superior Court of Pennsylvania.
TONI YATES
Ford City
Oct 31 2009
We read your Oct. 25 editorial endorsing Jane Melvin Orie for Supreme Court. You state that she and Jack Panella are equally qualified. Then you endorse Judge Melvin because she "would strike a small but important blow for gender balance." A good thought, but it doesn't do women any good to put women on the bench who would vote against their rights.
Despite Ms. Orie's gender, Judge Jack Panella is the better qualified and better candidate for women and families. Based on our interview, we believe he is in full support of NOW's positions including reproductive rights, economic equality for women, civil rights for all, constitutional equality for women, affirmative action and the elimination of violence against women. He will be a justice who serves all women and Pennsylvanians with fairness and integrity. Ms. Orie's record doesn't show this support for women's rights and concerns.
That is why we chose the man over the woman. Gender is important but shouldn't be the only reason for an endorsement. Vote for Jack Panella; he is the candidate for equality.
JOANNE TOSTI-VASEY
Chair, Pennsylvania NOW PAC
Bellefonte, Pa.
Oct 30 2009
Could someone give some really reputable reasons to elect Luke Ravenstahl as mayor of Pittsburgh on Nov. 3, other than his being the "poster boy" of the Democratic Party in this city? Although I am not a city resident, I work, shop, eat and regularly attend political and cultural events in the city.
It's maddening to think that after the disastrous events around the G-20, people would feel he is still worthy of running the city. During the run-up to the G-20, established peace and social justice groups were denied permits to hold peaceful events, which led to civil lawyers taking the city to federal court to uphold First Amendment rights. The city spent millions on police and national guard units allowing the Downtown area to be turned into a deserted police state, and business owners lost revenue because people were afraid to come Downtown.
In Lawrenceville and on the Pitt campus, police in riot gear unlawfully arrested, beat and tear-gassed people. Especially intimidating was the city's new LRAD vehicles, which sent out warning-to-disperse messages at ear-piercing levels. Many brutalized were unable to seek emergency medical treatment, because the city failed to have backup EMS units set up.
Now Pittsburgh will long be remembered as an unfriendly place whose elected officials sat by passively and watched people's First Amendment rights being trampled on. If I could cast a vote in the city's mayoral race Tuesday, it would not be for Luke Ravenstahl.
I think he should be made to do community service, like so many arrested under his watch, for his lack of good leadership, for poor decision making and for inviting the capitalist criminals of the G-20 to our city in the first place.
FRANCINE PORTER
Shaler
The writer is the coordinator of Codepink Pittsburgh Women for Peace.
Oct 30 2009
The photo of the body of a soldier returning from Afghanistan on the PG's Oct. 28 front page was heart-wrenching but necessary. It brought home the reality of the sacrifices of the current war. We read the news daily with a special pain as we lost our nephew Corey Kowall just a month ago.
The families of all those who give their lives or suffer grave injuries understand the war experience in a most personal and painful way. Our Corey was a bright, talented and courageous 20-year-old. He was killed while on a mission to rescue his comrades whose vehicle had been hit by an I.E.D. My brother lost his only son and there are grieving sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins and many, many friends. Life will never be the same for us, and the same must be true for the families of every young person killed in this war.
We want these sacrifices to have some meaning, but Corey lost his life defending an outpost surrounded by Taliban where there were no Afghanis to protect. It was an effort simply to take land in a country we will never be able to control. We want our government and our allies to have a coherent strategy to bring this to an end.
Thank you for focusing attention on the most important cost of this war. As we approach the season of Thanksgiving and Christmas, we want more than words of comfort and hope. We want peace now and a foreign policy that avoids deadly conflicts at all cost. Money must be spent for peace and not money and precious lives for wars.
Although Corey willingly joined the military, he wanted to return home to more humanitarian pursuits. Like the soldier in your photo, he will never have that chance.
CAROL KOWALL
Oakland
Oct 30 2009
I read David Templeton's story "With Luck, a New Kidney" (Oct. 21 Health) while serving as chair of the World Diabetes Congress in Montreal. More than 12,000 attendees from 150 countries including researchers, doctors, nurses, health ministers, people with diabetes and many others are gathered in an attempt to improve diabetes care in their respective homes.
It was timely that a Pittsburgh colleague forwarded to me Mr. Templeton's personal story on living with diabetes. His touching article reaffirmed my belief that diabetes requires a team, with the person affected by diabetes at the center. As Mr. Templeton points out, diabetes, unlike many other diseases, is a self-management disease that requires daily decisions to be made regarding eating, exercise, monitoring and taking medications. Added on is the ever-looming threat of complications.
This means that people with diabetes need support from doctors, nurses, dietitians, pharmacists and many other specialists since diabetes also affects their eyes, kidneys and heart.
Mr. Templeton is part of the Pittsburgh diabetes team. People with diabetes rely on their family, friends and community. Mr. Templeton's candid message and ongoing coverage of diabetes in the Post-Gazette is greatly appreciated by the diabetes community at large.
LINDA SIMINERIO
Executive Director
University of Pittsburgh
Diabetes Institute
Oakland
Oct 30 2009
Regarding "Vatican Reaching Out to Anglicans" (Oct. 21): It has even created a new church structure to receive disaffected Anglicans -- read, those who cannot tolerate their church's ordination of women and the election of openly gay bishops.
That the Vatican is bending "sacred rules" to welcome these bigots is more evidence of the stubborn ignorance of church leaders.
The good news is that change is happening regardless of a hierarchy that is too rigid, too divisive and too contentious.
Eighty percent of the laity, who largely ignore papal dictates, have come to understand that they are the church.
In a speech delivered by the deeply humane Pope John XXIII which opened the Second Vatican Council, he offered hope: "Today, rather, Providence is guiding us toward a new order of human relationships, which, thanks to human effort and yet far surpassing human hopes, will bring us to the realization of still higher and undreamed of expectations."
Yes!
PAT DOWNEY
Squirrel Hill
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