Apr 9, 2008 8:55 pm US/Eastern
Mayor's Press Secretary Resigns Amid Controversy
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
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Alecia Sirk confirmed to KDKA Investigator Andy Sheehan that she and her husband, Pat Ford, accepted gifts, including a home surround sound system from the local head of Lamar. (File)
KDKA
Controversy over a downtown billboard and allegations of special treatment have led to a shakeup at City Hall.
Alecia Sirk, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's press secretary, has resigned and her husband, Pat Ford, the head of the Urban Redevelopment Authority, has asked for a leave of absence.
They received expensive gifts from an official at Lamar Advertising - the same company that members of city council accuses of getting special favors from Ford, bypassing the usual rules and got permission to erect a 1,200-ft electronic billboard on the side of the downtown transportation center.
"It requires a review by the Planning Commission," Councilman Bill Peduto said.
It had been something like a tempest in a teapot until it was revealed that Lamar's Real Estate Manager Jim Vlasach lavished Ford and his wife with expensive gifts, including a home surround sound system.
"The appearance is of a compromised position is bad, that's why we have ethics," Council President Doug Shields said.
He says Ford appears to have violated the city's ethics code by accepting gifts worth more than $250. What makes matters worse, according to Shields, is where the gifts come from.
"And given the fact that the Lamar billboard company is really engaged with the city on a host of different things that it would probably the best course of action is not to accept those gifts at all," Shields said.
Ford and Sirk declined to be interviewed on camera. But Sirk told KDKA's Andy Sheehan by telephone that her husband and Vlasak are longtime friends and often exchanged Christmas gifts.
"Pat always had something for Jim Vlasach and Jim Vlasach always had something for Pat," she said.
Sirk says Vlasach actually gave her the surround sound system as a Christmas present in December of 2006 and resisted any implication that her husband had been compromised by the gift.
"That's a reflection of the people saying that, not on Pat. Pat's a professional man," she said.
But Ravenstahl said he requested Sirk's resignation and has asked the state's Ethics Commission to investigate.
"Needless to say I am very concerned about what I was made aware of today and we plan to obviously fully investigate this issue and have some answers," he said.
Ford is now on paid leave while the state Ethics Commission investigates.
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