Mar. 8, 2010: Dems Back Mayor's Brother for House
Adam Ravenstahl, the younger brother of Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, is the Democratic nominee for the special election to fill the balance of the legislative term of Judge Don Walko, who resigned his state House seat after he was elected to the bench.
Mr. Ravenstahl defeated Dan Keller, of Brighton Heights, 85 to 42. The same vote gave Mr. Ravenstahl the party's endorsement in the May 18 primary that will determine the Democratic nominee for the full two-year term for the next session of the Legislature. Mr. Ravenstahl's name will be in the district's ballot twice that day because the special election will be concurrent with the primary.
In an adjoining city district, former city Councilwoman Tonya Payne defeated incumbent Rep. Jake Wheatley by a margin of 74 to 49 for the party's endorsement in District 19. In the only other legislative race contested in the party's vote at Heinz Field, Rep. Nick Kotik easily held off a challenge from Maribeth Taylor, a McKees Rocks councilwoman, 62 to 12, in the 45th District.
Mr. Keller, an Alcosan board member and a former member of the city planning commission, will face Mr. Ravenstahl again in the nomination battle for the full term in the seat that includes parts of the North Side as well as Ross, Reserve and West View. Joining them in pursuit of the full-term nomination will be Mark Purcell, a former Ross commissioner, and Tim Tuinstra, a community activist from Observatory Hill.
While altered by several rounds of redistricting, the 20th District seat contains the core communities once represented by Mr. Ravenstahl's grandfather, former state Rep. Robert Ravenstahl, before he was defeated by future Mayor Tom Murphy in a 1976 state House race.
Mr. Ravenstahl kept an unusually low profile for a political candidate in the weeks before Sunday's vote. Though he appeared at a variety of Democratic Party events, he failed to respond to calls from reporters. Mr. Ravenstahl, 25, said Sunday that he had been reticent because he did not regard himself as a full-fledged candidate until he received the backing of the Democratic committee members.
Now, he said, he would campaign more publicly on the theme that, "Harrisburg is broken; the system is not working for the people."
Mr. Ravenstahl, a graduate of Robert Morris University, is a business analyst at UPMC.
The primary contest between Mr. Wheatley and Ms. Payne in the 19th District also carries echoes of past elections, as it continues an established rivalry between Hill District political factions.
At a similar party meeting in 2005, Ms. Payne won the Democratic endorsement for council on her way to defeating former city Councilman Sala Udin in the primary. Her council career was halted when she was defeated last May by Robert Daniel Lavelle, the freshman councilman who is an ally and former employee of both Mr. Udin and Mr. Wheatley.
While on council, Ms Payne was a usually reliable vote for the Ravenstahl administration. During the daylong voting Sunday, Yarone Zober, Mr. Ravenstahl's chief of staff, said that the mayor had not taken any public position in the Payne-Wheatley contest. The 19th District includes city neighborhoods extending from the South Side through parts of Oakland and the Hill District on to the North Side.
Ms. Taylor, the McKees Rocks councilwoman, said she planned to continue her challenge to Mr. Kotik in the primary. The 45th District includes communities along the Ohio River, including sections of McKees Rocks, Robinson, Stowe, Moon and Bellevue.