EDITORIAL: EXACTLY WHAT'S SO BAD ABOUT THE FIX BEING IN, ANYWAY?

WELL-OILED POLITICAL CONNECTIONS SHOULD BE REWARDED: FOREST CITY/HARRAHS SHOULD BE GIVEN GAMING LICENSE

BY THE HONORABLE RUFUS PECKHAM - Just look at the evidence, and you decide if Forest City/Harrahs deserves to be given the lone Pittsburgh gaming license for their proposed casino at Station Square. Forest City has given nearly $150,000 to Governor Ed Rendell and $20,000 to County Executive Dan Onorato. Forest City has loaned high-powered local investors in the venture some or all of their investment money, including former Steeler Franco Harris, Squirrel Hill insurance broker William Lieberman (former chairman of the state-appointed oversight board), Charles Zappala (investment executive and uncle of the district attorney), Glenn Mahone (Allegheny County Airport Authority board chair and attorney for the state-appointed Pittsburgh oversight Board), and Yvonne Cook, president of Highmark Foundation.

What more could Harrahs/Forest City possibly do to insure it gets the license, I ask you? Some might wrongly assert that this smacks of old-time politics that rewards well-oiled connections. But exactly what's so bad about the fix being in, anyway? So what if this means the license will be awarded to an entity that is not the choice of the "majority," or that the entity might not even be the best choice for Pittsburgh?

You see, none of that matters. Harrahs deserves the license because it knows how to get things done. I'm going to tell you something that will surprise many of you: The "fix" is the only way things get accomplished. When do you need a "fix?" When something's broken, of course. And there's lots broken around here. The "majority" be damned.

If we had listened to the "majority," we never would have gotten a new baseball park so that the Pirates could finally field a competitive team. We never would have gone into Vietnam to achieve a crucial victory for democracy in Southeast Asia. And, of course, we never would have gone into Iraq to bring stability to a critical region of the world. Yes, Virginia, we need fixes and plenty of them.

As a postscript, the aforementioned Lieberman, one of the well-connected investors, is the same Lieberman who has given Mayor Ravenstahl $1,600. Funny, Ravenstahl previously endorsed the Isle of Capri/Hill District plan, but then he ran "luke" warm by asking the Penguins to commit to an alternative arena funding plan -- which I suspect is a code word for Harrahs/Forest City. Coincidence? Perhaps, but I hope not. Political insiders like Lieberman who wield disproportionate, inequitable influence are my heroes. They're the ones who get things done.