If 90 percent of life is just showing up, then 67 percent of Pittsburgh City Council is most of the way there.

Today's council public hearing on police domestic violence legislation https://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07291/826486-100.stm -- only the hottest council topic this side of the parking tax -- saw the city's nine legislators divide into three groups.

1: Those who came to stay -- Council President Doug Shields, Councilman William Peduto and Councilwoman Darlene Harris were there from beginning to end.

2: Those who came and went -- Councilmen Dan Deasy was briefly present, and Len Bodack asked a few questions of Police Chief Nate Harper, but both drifted away at some point in the hour-plus affair. Councilwoman Tonya Payne left not long before it ended, citing a prior commitment and complaining that council staff should consult all members before scheduling an important hearing.

3: Those who didn't show -- Lame ducks Twanda Carlisle and Jeff Koch weren't around, and Jim Motznik had a family matter that kept him away.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, lambasted for missing a June 28 public hearing on the topic to attend a charity golf outing, didn't peek in, but his administration was amply represented by the chief, Public Safety Director Mike Huss and a bevy of lawyers and police officials. So was the mayor's native North Side, especially when two groups of school kids from that area trooped through Council Chambers, shepherded by former mayoral spokesman Dick Skrinjar in what was described as an effort to show them "democracy in action."

Early Returns recommends that the kids, at least, be given a solid 90 percent grade for the day. As for council -- they'd better hope the public is grading on a curve.

Unfair competition?

U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., finished second in the charity "Funniest Celebrity in Washington" contest last night, but it may not have been a fair contest.

Although the rules for the charity event say contestants shouldn't be professionals, Mr. Specter finished behind Joseph Randazzo, an assistant editor the satirical newspaper "The Onion." Clearly, Mr. Randazzo makes his living being funny while Mr. Specter's humor usually is rooted in the irony of political life.

According to Brett Lieberman's blog on PennLive.com, Mr. Specter brought down the house with a 10-minute set that included some old jokes about U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and former Vice President Bob Dole. But most of the performance touched a blue note that would curl the hair of his conservative Republican colleagues.

Mike Doyle: pasta lover

There are few things more irksome to Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Forest Hills, than overcooked pasta.

In a lengthy lunch interview with The Hill this week, the Pennsylvania lawmaker detailed the finer points of his culinary tastes and reminisced about his mother's cooking.

"Is the pasta cooked to order?" he questioned the waiter at Sonoma, a swanky Italian restaurant on Capitol Hill. "Is it homemade? I want it extra al dente. Tell them not to overcook it."

He chose the pasta alla carbonara and a glass of "crisp white wine."

According to the Hill:

"Doyle's pickiness about food harkens back to childhood in Swissvale, Pa. Thursdays and Sundays were huge, special cooking days: Thursday was pasta, Sunday a roast and potatoes. On Sundays, his mother, Rosemarie, would also bake a cake, icing it to their liking.

"He remembers with particular fondness the spaghetti cooked in fresh garlic and olive oil.

"'I could eat pasta every day,'" he said.

First Published: October 18, 2007, 9:30 p.m.