Troggo-ghostwriting comes to the Tribune, Internet and adjacent toilet paper dispensing stations.

Steve Price had a blog once, too. It lasted a short time, and when the person who knew how to log onto the computer was gone, so was the blog.

Now Dan Coffey hits the big time with The Coffey Corner, in which he drops the names of Jeff Gahan and Pat McLaughlin in a bid for respectability by association (strike one), throws out a red herring aimed at a downtown parking garage that hasn't been approved, much less built (strike two), and conveniently forgets to note that while the various City Hall conspiracies against John Q. Public have been hatched, the diligent Coffey has been right there, on the council, missing every fat one lobbed down the middle of the plate (strike three).

It takes only three strikes to make an out, so I'll stop there.

Coffey also has contributed his (?) second blog post as an op-ed piece to the Tribune. In this vein, it might interest readers to know that a member of the character assassination community recently took the time to question Matt Nash's attendance at a sewer board meeting, as recounted in one of his columns. I'm told that the Tribune investigated (wink wink -- look in the basement -- nudge nudge).

I'll happily follow suit. Can the Tribune prove that Coffey is capable of composition? Did he write these pieces, or did Erika? Can we see a crayon sample, please? I expect Coach K will be asking these questions of the esteemed ward heeler, as with Matt.

Until then, Dan Coffey is a non-entity incapable of original thought, perhaps useful to certain deconstructionists at present, but in the end, absolutely untrustworthy. Even his curent allies grasp the truth: You can depend on the copperhead -- he'll ALWAYS let you down.