Now that's dedication

Theresa Colaizzi says she's pulling out of the race for a City Council seat because she wants to finish the job she started on the school board...unless:

If Mr. Shields wins the controller's race, he would have to resign his council seat, and a special election to replace him would ensue. If that happens, Ms. Colaizzi said, "then I'm back in the game."

It seems to me it's not that she's so dedicated to being on the school board but that she doesn't want to run against an incumbent. Frankly, I think it's ridiculous that a person can run for two offices simultaneously, as Doug Shields is doing, and as many others have done before him. For one thing, it's wasteful: If Shields wins the controller race, then the city is going to have to hold a special election to replace him. Plus, voters are left casting what is more or less a provisional ballot; they don't really know if the person for whom they are voting is even going to be available to take office.

In 2005, Bill Peduto ran for mayor and for re-election in his City Council district. Once I criticized Peduto on a blog for failing to visit enough neighborhoods during that mayoral campaign, and one of his supporters responded that this time would be different because this time he didn't also have to defend a City Council seat.

Well, then, what was the point of running for mayor last time? Just to get some city-wide name recognition? I realize that Peduto might have lost the mayor's race anyway, and then have been out of local politics if he had not kept his council seat. But had he run a more aggressive campaign then (and I'll say that his last run for mayor seemed more energetic than his recent, aborted bid) he might have been in a better position now.

True, he had no way of knowing that there would be another mayoral election in just two short years. But that's the thing about politics: You never know.