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Saturday, November 30, 2002

By Jeffrey Cohan, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Retiring U.S. Rep. Bill Coyne considers Pittsburgh "way better off" than it was 22 years ago when he went to Washington as a freshman Congressman.

	Retiring U.S. Rep. Bill Coyne in his office at the Federal Building, Downtown -- "You could make the case that you should go to the center to win elections. I say you should try to win elections by standing for what is important to the people." (Martha Rial, Post-Gazette)

"Good things are happening all the time," Coyne said yesterday during the taping of "KD/PG Sunday Edition," which will air at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow on KDKA-TV.

Coyne referred to new construction on the South Side and in Homestead, as well as PNC Park, Heinz Field and the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.

"Things that create jobs are what are of interest to me and those things create jobs," the Oakland Democrat said.

Coyne also cited the city's internationally recognized universities and medical facilities as key contributors to Pittsburgh's resurgence.

But he bemoaned the fragmentation of the region's economic development efforts, which are split among separate city and county departments and the independent Pittsburgh Regional Alliance.

"I think it's not cohesive and it should be," he said.

The retirement of Coyne, 67, who has already cleaned out his Washington office, will leave the city of Pittsburgh without one of its own in Congress.

After the 2000 U.S. Census documented a decline in Pittsburgh's population, a Republican-drawn reapportionment put U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Swissvale, in Coyne's 14th District. By retiring, the low-key Coyne averted a primary battle with Doyle, who went on to win the seat.

But Coyne said yesterday he is retiring only because "you get to a point where you don't want to do something any longer."

Before taping began yesterday, Coyne said he has not decided what he will do next.

Asked to identify the most important vote of his 22-year career, Coyne without hesitation pointed to his support of President Clinton's 1993 deficit reduction package.

Eliminating federal deficits turbocharged the economy and pulled Pittsburgh out of the despair of the 1980s, when the local unemployment rate reached 14 percent, Coyne said.

He criticized President Bush's 10-year, $1.35 trillion tax cut package, which coincides with the return of federal budget deficits.

"We are in no position in this government to be having tax cuts for the wealthiest people in this country," Coyne said. "That's what's causing the deficit and the economy to go in the tank.

"I think we have a recession because we have a deficit. It crowds out businesses from borrowing money and expanding and creating jobs."

Reflecting on the gains Republicans made in the Nov. 5 election, Coyne chided Democratic candidates for not coming out against making the Bush tax cuts permanent.

"The fact is, we got beat because we didn't stand up for some of the things that Democrats should stand up for," he said.

"You could make the case that you should go to the center to win elections," Coyne continued. "I say you should try to win elections by standing for what is important to the people.

"I'm talking about national health insurance. We have 44 million people who don't have health care in this country. I think it should be the Democratic Party that addresses those issues."

Congress will be losing one of its most liberal members when Coyne's 11th term officially ends.

"I don't run away from the label as liberal," he said. "Government can be a positive force."