Pittsburgh council members question some city employee donations to Mayor Ed Gainey's campaign
As Pittsburgh's May mayoral primary approaches, KDKA-TV has been alerted to some questionable contributions to Mayor Ed Gainey's campaign. There are concerns about city employees donating more than the allowed amount.
The limit for city employees with the city's code is $100 for donating to an incumbent who oversees their department. It goes to $200 for department heads.
In going through campaign finance filings for this year with Mayor Ed Gainey's campaign, there are at least two lower employees who went beyond the $100 limit. One gave $500, the other $200. The city has a policy because of past administrations, decades ago, mandating employees donate to incumbents.
"These protections are there not only for city workers but for the public at large because our city is a public resource, our government is something that we all have a stake in," Pittsburgh Ethics Hearing Board executive director Leanne Davis said.
Donations from two members of the mayor's cabinet are being questioned by members of the city council. Both gave $200 in accordance with department heads, but council members like Bob Charland said they are not department heads as they are not approved by council.
"This administration is not playing by the rules that we set for all candidates in office," Charland said.
The city's Ethics Hearing Board said their donations are OK and considers their roles to be that of department heads. The city's Ethics Hearing Board looks over campaign finances in elections like this. They couldn't say if they are looking into the matter or not.
"We want to just make sure that whenever there is a violation that the board is acting impartially towards everyone," Davis said.
The board said it's on the campaign to address any issues. This would mean giving the donors back the money that goes beyond the limit.
A Mayor Gainey campaign spokesperson said, "These contributions are fully in compliance with state and federal campaign finance law, and the campaign has already taken steps to refund the overages to comply with city regulations."
