PITTSBURGH -- Mayor Luke Ravenstahl appeared before the city's Ethics Hearing Board on Monday to explain his participation in Mario Lemieux's charity golf tournament in June.

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Bob Mayo's Blog

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It's the first time an elected official in the city has ever gone before the board, which had been dormant for years.

The board is trying to determine if Ravenstahl violated ethics rules by letting the Pittsburgh Penguins and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center pay his $9,000 fee to play in the Mario Lemieux Celebrity Invitational.

"I am proud to have been a participant," Ravenstahl said. "And I gladly accepted UMPC's invitation. The only thing of value I received was knowing that I played a small part in seeing the work of the foundation will continue."

Ethics board members called Tuesday's event a dialogue, instead of labeling it a hearing or an investigation.

During the dialogue, the mayor made a statement and answered questions from board members.

The board asked whether the arrangement could give the public the perception that the mayor won't be impartial when doing business with UPMC, the city's biggest employer.

Ravenstahl's argument was based on the fact that the $9,000 was not a gift to him, rather a donation to the charity.

"It would be different if I'm receiving the monetary value of the event," said Ravenstahl. "This was not a gift to me. I received nothing from UPMC. The fact that the cost was $9,000 was a fee that was paid to the youth foundation, not myself directly."

City officials aren't sure what power the ethics board has. Some say they can discipline Ravenstahl by fining him or recommending impeachment, but others say the board can only recommend that a formal ethics investigation be started.

"I thought it was a tremendous opportunity for me to restore the faith in the residents of the city of Pittsburgh," said Ravenstahl of the meeting. "That nothing wrong was done there. That my attendance was appropriate."

The members agreed the mayor didn't violate any rules because elected officials are not currently limited in the type of charitable events they can participate in, who pays for them to be there or how much is paid.

But the panel said it was considering changing the rules by installing a cap on the cash value of charitable events and who pays for officials to attend.

Republican candidate for mayor, Mark DeSantis, claims the episode reflects badly on Ravenstahl.

"It's a sad state of affairs that it has to happen at all, number one," DeSantis said. "But let's hope that the mayor acknowledges the fact that he made a mistake and it was bad judgment. It just reflects bad judgment on the part of the mayor."

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