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Ad Watch: O'Connor's TV ads are first to air
Friday, April 06, 2001 By James O'Toole, Politics Editor, Post-Gazette
Democrat Bob O'Connor aired the first commercials of the Pittsburgh mayor's race this week. On Sunday, he'll be joined on the airwaves by Mayor Tom Murphy.
O'Connor is rotating two ads, one that offers a list of promises on issues. The second emphasizes O'Connor's theme of neighborhood commitment by portraying the challenger as savior of Vento's Pizza, an East Liberty landmark dislocated by development of a Home Depot store on Highland Avenue.
In the first ad, O'Connor appears in a variety of settings promising progress on a variety of issues:
*He says he will work for "property tax reform that will keep taxes down."
O'Connor was first to propose a single rate for property taxes in the city, in contrast to separate levies on land and buildings in the former tax system. The proposal was in response to huge land tax increases on some property owners caused by the countywide reassessment.
The Murphy administration later embraced the single rate alternative and, with council, enacted a new real estate tax rate of 10.8 mills.
In this area as in others, O'Connor claims his business background would make him a better manager than the incumbent. He acknowledged, however, that the property tax reform he promises in the ad would be beyond the powers of a city administration and would depend on lobbying state government for changes in the law and for more state funding. Every city administration seeks more money from Harrisburg. It may be that O'Connor would, as he pledges, have more success at such lobbying, but there is no evidence to prove that assertion.
*The ad calls for "low-interest loans for neighborhood businesses, not just for those Downtown."
O'Connor is not proposing any specific new program here. The city and its Urban Redevelopment Authority already provide loans for neighborhood businesses through a variety of programs.
O'Connor says it's a question of emphasis and that he would place a higher priority on neighborhood businesses as opposed to some of the larger capital projects like the new stadiums and convention center championed by the Murphy administration.
The notion of emphasis and priorities is a fair issue for O'Connor to campaign on, but it should also be noted that throughout the Murphy administration, O'Connor, as a city councilman, has generally voted in favor of the larger projects, including stadiums, even though he has at times been critical of some of the specifics.
O'Connor has noted that many city residents who would qualify for the state's Child Health Insurance Program do not apply for it. The program, O'Connor acknowledges, has nothing to do with the city budget or policies. He said he would use the prestige of the mayor's office to make more people aware of the program.
Administration of the city schools also is beyond the legal responsibility of the mayor and city government. O'Connor hasn't offered any specifics but maintains that he would foster cooperation between the city and school district.
The second ad opens with an exuberant O'Connor greeting customers entering the pizza parlor.
The frame shifts to Albert Vento, the store's owner, who complains that "when Home Depot came in, the mayor wanted to tear us down; he wanted to have us on a back street."
"I wasn't going to let that happen," O'Connor tells the camera. "I got everyone together and we worked it out."
The ad refers to one of the Murphy administration's bigger renewal efforts -- luring Home Depot to the long-idle former Sears site in East Liberty. The project required that Vento's be moved.
Vento was willing to accommodate the new development, but he wanted to retain an address on the more heavily traveled Highland Avenue.
When Steve Leeper, a key Murphy administration figure in the Home Depot project, told Vento he could not guarantee that the pizza shop would be able to stay on Highland, Vento loudly protested.
He said he credits O'Connor with arranging a subsequent meeting that allowed his store to reopen on Highland.
While Leeper does not specifically dispute O'Connor's role in helping to accommodate Vento, he claims there is a glaring irony -- the Murphy administration, not O'Connor, should be credited with preserving Vento's by bringing new life to the business district.
"If we didn't come along and get Home Depot there, he'd have been done. The mayor saved his business."
The Murphy administration also noted that O'Connor opposed the city's plan to buy the Sears site to preserve it for eventual development. He said the site wouldn't have been developed if O'Connor had his way.
O'Connor disputes that, saying he thought the city could have saved money by merely purchasing an option on the Sears site.
"I was always for Home Depot," O'Connor said. "That deal was ready to fall apart. I helped the mayor on Home Depot."
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O'Connor calls for "a guarantee that every low-income child has access to health care."