PITTSBURGH -- Four City Council members left the council chambers Tuesday, while the remaining members voted not to pay about $11,000 in legal bills connected to the fight against a controversial billboard at the downtown Grant Street Transportation Center.

Three of the four who walked out -- council President Doug Shields, Bill Peduto and Bruce Kraus -- suggested a political attempt was afoot to stop them from acting on the public's behalf against Lamar Advertising and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's administration. They said they may ask the state ethics commission and the ACLU to step in.

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Approval for the downtown LED billboard was not subject to a public hearing, as is required by the city. Instead, the deal was brokered by Lamar executive Jim Vlasach and Urban Redevelopment Authority director Pat Ford, who are longtime friends.

Construction on the billboard has been stopped by Ravenstahl's order. Lamar has agreed to a public review of the situation and said it will go through the traditional permitting process to seek approval for the billboard again.

A city attorney's opinion was that Shields, Peduto, Kraus and Ricky Burgess -- the four city council members who hired a law firm to challenge the billboard -- should not vote on whether the city will foot the legal bill, so they left while the vote was being taken.

The city's assistant solicitor said if the four had participated in the vote, they would have violated ethics rules that require city officials to disclose conflicts of interest and refrain from using their authority for "private pecuniary benefit."

According to the law, "Any council member who violates (city charter) provisions shall immediately forfeit their office ... We caution that a conflict of interest has already occurred in this matter. The course of action urged here will not eradicate the conflict."
PDF: Read The City Law Department's Opinion Regarding Conflict Of Interest

"That opinion stated that if we should even utter a word that we may lose our jobs," said Shields.

"Having been effectively gagged by this administration for positions that we took to protect the people of the city of Pittsburgh, we chose in protest to leave the room," said Kraus.

The members came back after the rest of council refused to OK payment.

"All of this has followed a pattern," said Peduto. "A very deliberate pattern of intimidation to break us down, to walk away from this. This is not going to go away."

"Who's hiding what here, and taking extraordinary lengths to suppress the voices of the elected representatives of the people of the city of Pittsburgh?" Shields asked.

Some council members said they might ask the state ethics commission to advise them on who's in the right in the situation. They said they might also ask the ACLU to investigate whether their rights are being violated.

Because of the billboard flap, Ford is on unpaid leave from the URA and his wife, Alecia Sirk, resigned from her city job as Ravenstahl's press secretary.

Ford claims to be the victim of a smear campaign in retaliation for blowing the whistle on alleged financial misconduct in the city Housing Authority. Ravenstahl has requested an audit of that department.

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