The latest television commercials by the major Pittsburgh mayoral candidates are a lot like the campaign so far. They focus on fiscal issues and are surprisingly bland.

Bob O'Connor's latest repeats his biography as a lifetime Pittsburgher and says the former restaurant executive is due in his third shot to be mayor. William Peduto introduces himself to voters in an upbeat ad that mentions his budget cuts. Michael Lamb tries to distance himself from the others in both form and function, with a sparse commercial about government perks.

The three Democrats are the best-known of the seven candidates running for the party's nomination May 17 and the other four -- Gary Henderson, Louis Kendrick, Les Ludwig and Dan Repovz -- have not run television spots.

A look at the ads follows:

Bob O'Connor

The O'Connor campaign's first two commercials focused on his 20 years of business experience in the 1970s and '80s, saying he can professionalize city government if elected mayor. They listed his proposals for cutting government spending and showed images of O'Connor in board rooms, factories and office environments.

The latest ad broadens that message, saying the Greenfield native is a "son of Pittsburgh" who left business to devote himself to public service, not only in government, but for the Highmark Caring Foundation. It says that O'Connor "was right on the issues" when he ran unsuccessfully in the last two mayoral primaries, and shows a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette headline saying "Bob O'Connor has the leadership qualities the city needs."

The ad ends with a multigenerational shot of the O'Connor family outside their Squirrel Hill home, where O'Connor's wife Judy grew up.

Analysis

O'Connor's campaign themes are familiar, since they are largely unchanged from 1997 and 2001. He may not be overtly criticizing outgoing Mayor Tom Murphy anymore, but O'Connor is still running against Murphy's ghost, saying he can do a better job with city finances.

Even if O'Connor "was right" in 2001, as the ad claims, it is difficult to determine whether he could have averted the deep-seated debt, pension, labor and tax problems that have plagued the city for years.

The Post-Gazette headline was not from a news article, but rather printed with a March 2005 letter to the editor from an O'Connor supporter.

William Peduto

Peduto, standing in an Italian grocery, starts his ad by saying his Italian grandfather thought Pittsburgh was "a place where dreams could come true." He says he cut his City Council office expenses by 20 percent and his own council salary and touts his plans for further spending cuts -- at the Web site pedutowastecutter.com.

Among shots of City Council meetings, shaking hands with supporters and children playing hockey, Peduto promises to make "tough steps to bring about real change" in city government and "renew hope in Pittsburgh."

Analysis

Peduto did cut his office expenses and propose ways to cut city spending further for fiscal 2003, the year the Murphy administration laid off hundreds of city workers and the city slipped to junk bond credit status. No other council members, including then-Councilman O'Connor, voted for his budget amendments.

That may show Peduto is different from other pols, or that he has difficulty building consensus within the government machinery for his ideas.

Peduto has often proposed "tough steps" -- he was the first elected city official to call for Act 47 distressed status -- but implementing them is something else. His "waste-cutting" plan calls for taking private bids for refuse collection, which is a longtime loser with City Council, and for lots of cooperation with Allegheny County and state officials that cannot be guaranteed.

Michael Lamb

Lamb's first ad made fun of O'Connor's proposal to build a trolley system between Downtown and Oakland. While light in tone, it was also the only negative ad of the campaign thus far.

Lamb's latest spot is also an original: In a close-up of his face against a black backdrop, Lamb says he was offered a "free" cell phone and car when he was first elected to the county Prothonotary's office, which he refused.

"That's the problem. Politicians think it's for free when the truth is you're paying for it. It's no wonder the policies and the politics of the past got us into the mess we're in." Lamb turned down the perks, he says, because "that's how I was raised."

Lamb then says as mayor he will "save millions" and "put responsibility back into government."

Analysis

This is a curious ad. Lamb was elected Allegheny County prothonotary in 2001, not to a city government position: while the two governments are Downtown neighbors with a lot in common, they have separate budgets, separate vehicle fleets and different rules on using cell phones. The county could have spent $1 billion on gold-plated Rolls-Royces for its elected officials and it would have not affected the city's lousy budget.

According to the county manager's office, Lamb does not use a government cell phone, but neither do seven other county row officers. He is among four row officers without a car. Like the rest of the county's elected officials, he gets a county-owned parking space near the City-County Building that costs $60 per month, which is far less than the $200 monthly rate in many private garages nearby.

Lamb's spending habits may be different from some other politicians, but they do not differ so much from his mayoral opponents. City councilmen such as Peduto and O'Connor, who left council in early 2003, get reimbursements for cell phone usage and cut-rate parking Downtown. Council members do not get city-owned cars.

Since the ad ran, Lamb's campaign has said he would not use a city car if elected mayor and not let his staff or department directors get them either. Currently city-owned cars go to the mayor and his two deputies, the city controller and his deputy, directors from the Public Works Department and chiefs of the public safety branches.

While take-home cars are an easy thing to criticize, they have a minimal impact on the city's overall budget: The Act 47 team recommended the city cut the take-home fleet in half because of their negative image, but estimated that would save only $51,000 over two years.