Pittsburgh fiscal overseer reorganizes, embraces spending rules
A trio of new members appointed by state Democratic leaders to Pittsburgh's financial oversight board deposed its Republican chairman Monday and unanimously agreed to new rules requested by Mayor Bill Peduto.
Nicholas D. Varischetti, 32, the Downtown attorney chosen for the board by state Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati in 2012, will remain on the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority's five-person oversight panel, but he no longer leads it.
He was replaced by B.J. Leber, 61, a Highland Park Democrat and the former chief of staff to the late Democratic Mayor Bob O'Connor. Gov. Tom Wolf, the Democrat who defeated Republican Gov. Tom Corbett in January, recently appointed her to the board.
University of Pittsburgh professor Paul Harper, 46, of Shadyside, the choice of Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa Jr., D-Forest Hills, became the panel's secretary. Former board Secretary Michael Danovitz, 44, Shadyside, a Democrat put on the panel by Republican Speaker of the House Mike Turzai of Marshall in 2014, shifts to treasurer.
In early March, state Rep. Frank Dermody, D-Oakmont, named retired Chatham University President Esther L. Barazzone, 70, to the open seat. On Monday, the Squirrel Hill Democrat nominated Leber to take Varischetti's spot.
Formed in 2004 by state legislators to save the city from municipal bankruptcy, the ICA board had been without all five voting members since October, triggering allegations by Peduto that it lacked the ability to form a quorum. Peduto's administration sued the ICA in July to release $20 million in annual casino gambling revenues earmarked for the city but withheld by the board when Varischetti led it.
The ICA works alongside a similar state authority organized under Act 47 to aid Pittsburgh's financial recovery. The ICA's revamped board now can nix the agency's defense against the city's litigation and make other changes championed by Peduto, but Leber declined to discuss upcoming decisions.
“I cannot give you specifics because I've literally been chair for five minutes,” Leber said after the session, adding that the three new board members will allow the agency to move forward with “a clean slate.”
The board unanimously approved a list of innovations sought by Peduto's administration, including a requirements to competitively bid all ICA contracts valued at more than $10,000, post agency spending on its website and broadcast board sessions on cable television.
Varischetti insisted he had no hard feelings about his ouster as ICA chairman.
“None at all,” he said. “I think — as I've always stated — that serving on the ICA board is nonpartisan. I look forward to working with the new board members to get Pittsburgh back on solid economic footing.”
Carl Prine is a Tribune-Review investigative reporter. Reach him at cprine@tribweb.com or 412-320-7826.
