Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's pledge to institute a "zero tolerance" policy toward domestic violence in the city workforce hasn't quelled the furor over the June 18 promotions of three police officers accused of domestic abuse.

The National Organization for Women and the Women and Girls Foundation are taking the lead in ensuring that the issue doesn't just go away. That pairs the local chapter of a national leader with a foundation that organized a successful 2005 "girlcott" of retail giant Abercrombie & Fitch. Insiders told Early Returns that we could soon see an effort to similarly make the promotions a national issue and turn up the heat on an administration that has been slow to see the political ramifications.

The promotions are "something that diminishes all of us," said Karen Myres, president of the Executive Women's Council. "This is not something that we find in any way acceptable."

Her organization is dedicated to helping women gain political and economic power, and she said the promotions of men accused of abuse sends exactly the wrong message about the direction the region is heading. "If we're going to move forward, these kinds of things need to stop, because it's preventing women from pursuing their power.

"The greater issue is not these three policemen," she said. Rather it is "high-level officials of this government [who] believe their hands are tied. That's ridiculous. Well, untie your own hands" with legislation changing the rules that allowed the promotions.

None of the officers was convicted of a crime. Cmdr. George T. Trosky was arrested in 1997 for breaking the nose of his then-wife, whose failure to appear in court led to charges being dropped. Lt. Charles Rodriguez saw his daughter drop simple assault charges against him last week. Sgt. Eugene F. Hlavac's arguments with his girlfriend have prompted two police calls to his apartment and one round of anger management counseling this year, but no charges.

When news of their records surfaced, Mr. Ravenstahl said he hadn't known of the problems, promised a new policy against domestic violence, golfed during a City Council public hearing on the topic, and declined to reverse the promotions because doing so would likely spur lawsuits against the city.

More on this in tomorrow's P-G.

Bob Casey is alive, too

It took a little digging, but Mike Argento of the Evening Sun has determined that Pennsylvania's freshman senator still is, in fact, alive and kicking.

"I called Casey's office Wednesday morning and got sent to the press office. The person who answered the phone there asked if he could help me, and I said he sure could. I told him who I was and that I was calling to check to see whether Casey was still alive.

"He paused, and then put me on hold.

"He came back a minute later and asked for a phone number and said someone would call me. What, he didn't know whether his boss was alive? Wednesday morning turned into Wednesday afternoon and nobody called. All I asked was whether the guy was still alive, and it took several hours to figure it out?"

Mr. Argento, a guest columnist for the paper, was responding to a reader who said she didn't get any response from Mr. Casey's office when she called to inquire about the senator's position on immigration.

Unlike his predecessor, Rick Santorum, Mr. Casey is no verbal bomb-throwing ideologue who easily finds his way to the center of controversy. But some critics say he's been a little too quiet since taking office six months ago.

And the budget impasse is still ticking

This just in from the office of state Sen. Wayne Fontana, a Brookine Democrat willing to buck his party's governor on this, the first day of a furlough of 25,000 state employees.

"The state should not be messing with people's livelihoods," Mr. Fontana said in a press release. "It's embarrassing that our leaders are negotiating by furloughing employees who have no role in this conversation.

"This deadlock is not about good or bad legislation," he went on. "It's about politics. If it were about the proposals, we would have put them up for a vote and addressed these issues. Instead, eight people are negotiating what they will expect 253 members to agree to."

He's calling for reform of the state budget process, which puts most of the power in the hands of caucus leaders and the governor's office. He's calling out Gov. Ed Rendell, a fellow Democrat. We're calling it a sign that the controversial furlough could have political consequences not foreseen by the governor.