Time running short for hearing on Pittsburgh's campaign finance rules
The director and chief attorney for Pittsburgh's Ethics Hearing Board said Thursday they don't know whether there's enough time before the May 16 primary to hold a hearing on possible violations of the city's campaign finance rules.
Linda King, the board's executive manager, said city policy prevented her from saying whether she was investigating any possible violations.
There appears to be little to investigate in one race. Democratic mayoral candidate Darlene Harris has not filed any campaign finance reports with the city this year, nor has she created a campaign committee to run for mayor.
A 2015 ordinance requires candidates for city office to submit finance reports on the first business day of the month for up to five months preceding an election, and it prohibits candidates from using a committee created to run for one city office to run for a different one. Harris is funding her mayoral campaign with a committee that she has previously used to run for City Council.
Harris, who is facing Mayor Bill Peduto and the Rev. John C. Welch in the primary, questions the legality of the law.
“That's a matter for the board to decide,” King said.
If the board finds Harris violated city rules, it could levy a fine of $50 a day for the late filing of reports.
Several things have to happen before a hearing could be held. King first needs to receive or initiate a complaint about a possible violation. A three-person panel of the board then would need to determine there is enough evidence to send the matter to a hearing before the entire board.
When asked whether the board could do so in the next five weeks, city solicitor Lourdes Sanchez Ridge said, “I don't know. I can't say.”
The board posted other candidates' campaign finance reports online this week.
Peduto, who is seeking a second term, spent $149,302 and had $697,835 in the bank as of March 31, according to his latest filing. Welch spent $10,566 and had $9,577 in the bank, his latest filing showed.
In the only contested City Council primary race, Anthony Coghill, chairman of the city's 19th Ward Democratic Committee, spent $12,225 and had $15,045 in the bank; while Ashleigh Deemer, chief of staff to outgoing District 4 Councilwoman Natalia Rudiak, spent $13,331 and had $15,262 in the bank.
Tom Fontaine is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 412-320-7847 or tfontaine@tribweb.com.
