Wednesday, October 08, 2003

By Jeffrey Cohan, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Last night's Allegheny County Council meeting hardly seemed a likely time for a display of bipartisanship.

After all, Democrats and Republicans are vying for control of the county government in an election that is now less than four weeks away.

But, even though political tensions are rising, a member of council's Republican minority managed to get a bill passed.

In a 9-5 vote, council members approved an ordinance that will ban county officials from sending political or personal mail at taxpayer expense.

"It's a good day for good government in Allegheny County," said Councilman Doug Price, R-Carnegie, the bill's sponsor.

Price never argued that his bill addressed a widespread problem. By his own admission, he could only find a handful of examples of county officials abusing their franking privileges, and those abuses weren't flagrant. So the new law is something of a preemptive strike.

"County taxpayer dollars shouldn't pay for political mailings," Price said.

He insisted that his ordinance was not aimed at any particular official, but one of the county's most prolific letter writers, Coroner Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, could end up running afoul of its provisions. Wecht, a Democrat, is known to dash off several letters a week, some quite caustic, on official coroner's office letterhead.

"There may be some reconsideration now before those letters are sent out," Price said.

The penalties in the bill are mild, however. Violators must only reimburse the county for the cost of the offending mailing.

Some Democrats sought to delay a vote on the bill, arguing that council's solicitor should be given time to review it and weigh in on its legality.

"It's almost guaranteed to be legally challenged," said Councilman Bill Robinson, D-Hill District.

Ultimately, though, Democrats Charles Martoni of Swissvale, Brenda Frazier of Stanton Heights and Rick Schwartz of Plum joined council's six Republicans in voting for the ordinance.

The bill, in addition to banning political or personal content from county mail, prohibits county officials from sending out any mass mailings within 60 days of an election if they will be on the ballot for re-election.

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