Pittsburgh Councilman Jeff Koch, whose campaign shirts were photographed on the backs of city Redd Up Crew members yesterday, was accused by a former rival today of using staff to conduct politics from his city office on city time.

A review of Mr. Koch's campaign expense reports, meanwhile, suggests he took corporate contributions that may violate state election law.

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Jason Phillips, one of eight candidates in a March 2006 special election that Mr. Koch won, said he got a campaign-related call from Eileen Conroy, of Mr. Koch's office, on Monday at 11:55 a.m. He showed the Post-Gazette the cell phone, which had a record of a one-and-a-half-minute call at that time from Mr. Koch's council office phone number.

In a detailed description of the call that Mr. Phillips e-mailed to the Post-Gazette and later corroborated in an interview, he said Ms. Conroy "basically told me she was calling me to ask if the councilman could use my name on a mailer that his campaign was producing. Apparently the campaign is attempting to put together a piece that shows all of the of the former candidates in the March special election support Jeff."

Mr. Phillips added that in the end he decided not to be listed on a flier, because he is currently working for a judicial campaign.

Ms. Conroy, a former district judge, confirmed that she made the call but did not think about the fact that she was using a city phone. "The reason I did call was Jeff had asked me if I would follow up on something, [asking] the people who ran against him whether they would be listed on a flier saying they support him" this May, she said. "It was an isolated incident, and it will not happen again."

The use of government resources for campaign work has resulted in recent prosecutions.

Yesterday, at least four members of the city Redd Up Crew were caught on camera wearing shirts that clearly read, "Elect Jeffrey Koch, City Council, District 3." They were clearing a lot on city time in front of a boarded-up home owned by a relative of a supporter of the councilman in Allentown, in Mr. Koch's district. They were photographed by Ken Wolfe, who is working for candidate Bruce Kraus' campaign to defeat Mr. Koch in the May 15 Democratic primary.

The four workers, whom the city has not yet named, face five-day unpaid suspensions and referrals to the city's Ethics Hearing Board, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl has said. The city charter prohibits workers from engaging in political activity on city time.

One worker photographed was driver Ray Sansone, a Teamsters steward and Mr. Koch's campaign treasurer. The pictures didn't clearly show whether Mr. Sansone was wearing a Koch campaign T-shirt, but Mr. Wolfe claimed he was.

Mr. Sansone filled out campaign finance disclosures for Mr. Koch this year indicating that the campaign took donations from corporations.

The disclosure forms filed with the Allegheny County Elections Division show $100 contributions in September from Games-N-At, H.J. Storage, Cupka's I, Cupka's II, K & K Home Improvement Co., Bootlegger's, B & R Starters, The 1889 Cafe, and Healey Co., all of which are identified on the state Corporations Bureau Web site as corporations.

Mr. Sansone initially filed an annual disclosure form in January that did not itemize contributions, as is required under state law, but after press reports pointed out the error, he submitted an amended return showing the above contributions in late March.

State election law states that it is "unlawful for any . . . corporation, incorporated under the laws of this or any other state or any foreign country, except those corporations formed primarily for political purposes or as a political committee, to make a contribution or expenditure in connection with the election of any candidate . . . Furthermore, it shall be unlawful for any candidate, political committee, or other person to knowingly accept or receive any contribution prohibited by this section . . ."

There is no indication in Mr. Koch's disclosures that the corporations used political action committees to make their campaign contributions.

Mr. Sansone could not immediately be reached for comment. Repeated efforts to reach Mr. Koch likewise failed today.

A union leader who represents Mr. Sansone said today that he will challenge any effort to suspend the worker over the T-shirt issue.

"Last time I checked in this country, we still had the First Amendment, freedom of speech," said Teamsters Local 249 Vice President Joe Rossi. The Redd Up Crew, he added, had long been allowed to diverge from the city's public works uniform policy, and members of that group often wore shirts emblazoned with the name of the late Mayor Bob O'Connor, who created the special unit of the Department of Public Works.

Mr. Rossi said he had spoken with Mr. Sansone, and that the steward "asked those guys if they wanted to wear those shirts" but in no way ordered them to do so. "Ray doesn't have the authority to order anybody.

"The city's past practice is that we've been allowed to do this," Mr. Rossi said of the wearing of political shirts and buttons. "If the city wants to [suspend the workers], that's fine, if they think they need to do that to keep up public perception. . . . If the city wants to suspend these guys, it'll probably cost them $15,000 in arbitration and then [the workers will] end up getting five-day paid vacations."

A spokesman for the Pittsburgh Joint Collective Bargaining Committee, which represents city public works laborers, said they had not been informed of the disciplinary actions, and if they were informed, they would investigate before deciding what action to take.