Federal court documents throw doubt on the city Law Department's ruling that there was no conclusive evidence that former Pittsburgh mayoral aide Dennis Regan interfered in the operation of the police department.

The documents, filed as part of Cmdr. Catherine McNeilly's bid to overturn her demotion, include a sworn statement from former Pittsburgh Police Chief Dominic J. Costa in which he said Mr. Regan ordered him to promote three men to detective, including Francis Rende, the brother of Mr. Regan's housemate.

Mr. Costa said in a statement that Mr. Regan ordered the promotions after an Aug. 16 meeting, also attended by city Solicitor George R. Specter, who later wrote the report on Mr. Regan's conduct. Mr. Regan denied that incident and others raised by police administrators.

"I have concluded that the contradictory statements cannot be completely reconciled, so the facts must speak for themselves," Mr. Specter wrote in a Nov. 21 memorandum to Mayor Luke Ravenstahl in which he made no recommendation for discipline.

Mr. Specter could not be reached for comment on his report.

Mr. Ravenstahl ordered the investigation after Cmdr. McNeilly sent an e-mail to City Council members and others noting her concerns about Mr. Regan's interference in a disciplinary case she had filed against Detective Rende. She was trying to derail Mr. Regan's appointment by Mr. Ravenstahl as public safety director.

As a result of the investigation, Cmdr. McNeilly was demoted to lieutenant for releasing private personnel records, but Mr. Regan resigned on the day the results of the investigation were released.

Cmdr. McNeilly filed a federal lawsuit claiming she was acting as a whistle-blower and, on Wednesday, won a federal court order to be returned to commander, at least for the time being, because it was likely she would win her case when it goes to a full trial.

Mr. Ravenstahl yesterday defended his decision to demote Cmdr. McNeilly and refused to say whether he would have disciplined Mr. Regan if he hadn't resigned.

In his statement, Mr. Costa said Mr. Regan first approached him about Detective Rende shortly after he became chief in February and asked him to check whether the officer was being passed over for outside duty scheduled by the department. He reviewed the situation and found the officer's complaints unwarranted, he said.

In March, Mr. Regan approached him again and asked for then-Officer Rende to be promoted to detective. Mr. Costa said he told Mr. Regan that "his work performance wasn't up to my standard for making people detective," but he agreed to move him to a new graffiti task force so he could improve his performance and possibly qualify for detective.

On Aug. 16, after a meeting on another matter, Mr. Costa said Mr. Regan ordered him to promote Mr. Rende and two other officers to "graded detective" immediately. Mr. Costa said he and Mr. Specter explained that under the police contract that position no longer existed but the officers could be made acting detectives.

"I says, I can move them in a couple weeks," Mr. Costa said. "He said, 'No, I want them moved now.' "

Mr. Costa said he considered that a direct order and moved the men the next day.

Mr. Regan told the Law Department he "had no involvement" in the transfers, Mr. Specter's report said.

Mr. Regan also denied any involvement with the police administration's decision to terminate Cmdr. McNeilly's attempt to discipline Detective Rende for calling off work sick 37 times when he worked outside security details.

He also claimed he was trying to help a small business when he tried to get Cmdr. RaShall Brackney to stop telling Duke's Tire, a South Side company, that its workers could no longer change tires on the street.

Mr. Ravenstahl stressed yesterday that he remains comfortable with the decision to demote Cmdr. McNeilly and disputed Chief U.S. District Judge Donetta Ambrose's criticism of interference by his administration in the operation of the police department.

"I stand here proudly [believing] that I acted appropriately," Mr. Ravenstahl said after accepting a Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers donation to the Pittsburgh Promise, a new program to help city school students pay for college tuition.

"The decision [to demote Cmdr. McNeilly] was made because the rules were broken. I stand behind those rules."

As far as Mr. Regan's actions were concerned, the mayor said it would be improper for anyone in the mayor's office to influence police decisions, but he's not convinced Mr. Regan did anything wrong.

"There was no rule broken, no law broken," he said. "If anything, maybe bad judgment was used."

The mayor said no decision has been made on whether to defend the case at trial or try to reach a settlement. If it goes to trial, he said he would "welcome the opportunity" to testify in the case.