Republican mayoral challenger Mark DeSantis introduced a team of policy advisers yesterday, as he and Democratic incumbent Luke Ravenstahl criticized each other in a campaign that is getting harsher as it approaches the traditionally important Labor Day milepost.

"I don't see his accomplishments," Mr. DeSantis said of Mr. Ravenstahl, who became mayor upon the Sept. 1 death of Bob O'Connor. "They're not visible to me. And that's part of the problem: a lack of accomplishments, a lack of momentum, a lack of purpose."

He continued to fault the mayor for attending a two - day charity golf outing in late June, as the guest of the Penguins one day and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center the next, saying his attendance "stepped over the line in ethics" because the team and UPMC have dealings with the city.

Mr. Ravenstahl accused Mr. DeSantis of ducking real issues.

"Since my opponent has announced, he has refused to talk about any issues and wants to continue, as the media does, to talk about my personal life, my private life," he said. "Let's talk about balancing the budget. Let's talk about economic development and growing jobs. Let's talk about how we're going to make this a cleaner and safer city."

"When you're mayor, everything you do and say matters," countered Mr. DeSantis.

He said that his policy team has been working for two months, and he expects to start rolling out a platform in mid-September.

He said it will include a plan to loosen "the stranglehold of pension liabilities and the mountain of debt" on the city, move toward a "community-oriented and community-focused public safety program," and a revamp of taxation so that revenues cover costs without stunting business growth.

Former Allegheny County Chief Executive Jim Roddey, an Oakmont Republican, heads the challenger's committee on efficiency, effectiveness and transparency in government. He said it will focus on crafting "report cards" for city departments that would chart their effectiveness.

Mr. Roddey's role in the campaign appears to also include raising funds. He said Mr. DeSantis has "a plan in place that we believe will allow us to raise three-quarters of a million dollars" for the campaign.

He also unsheathed his verbal rapier, calling Mr. Ravenstahl "a nice young man that seems from time to time to be confused about what he's supposed to be doing and how he's supposed to do it."

Mr. DeSantis' seven policy committee chairs include three Democrats, and just two city residents. "I've been fortunate enough to have people who are from outside of the city who understand that this city is the flywheel of the region," he said.

The chairs are Mr. Roddey; Wilkinsburg Police Chief Ophelia Coleman heading the public safety committee; attorney Lourdes Sanchez Ridge and FamilyLinks social services agen cy Chief Executive Officer Fred Massey for diversity and cultural issues; Duquesne University business professor Jim Burnham for restoring confidence in city leadership; Sim Ops Studios CEO Shanna Tellerman for economic development; and retired Duquesne University business sch ool dean Jim Stalder for tax policy.

"This is a very impressive group of people," Mr. DeSantis said.

He said they haven't produced any reports in two months because it has been hard to gather data on the city's current condition, and because he wants to make sure the city's issues get due consideration.

"You don't take the souffle out of the oven before it's ready," he said.

He said the team's work "does not end when I'm elected. In fact, a lot of their hard work just begins."

A goal, he said, is seeing the city win the Malcolm Bal drige National Quality Program award for excellence in local government.

Applicants for the award submit their management practices for review by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and winners are announced by the president. He said that the bid, if successful, would make Pittsburgh the first city to win the coveted management award.

He cited the mayor's June request for resignation letters from seven department directors and four executive directors of city authorities as an example of bad management.

The mayor has said he's conducting a search that will show which of the current directors should be kept, and which replaced.

"Those organizations are leaderless," Mr. DeSantis said. "I think he should've had the recruiting effort started before he asked those people to resign."

A veteran business consultant and government staffer, he said asking for resignation letters without having replacements in mind is "not any kind of management that I've ever seen."

One of the involved officials, former Urban Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Jerome Dettore, has left his post. The others are still serving.

"I don't think that we've skipped a beat" since the resignations were requested, Mr. Ravenstahl said.

He declined to discuss the status of the individual directors because it would not "be fair to isolate or comment on specifics at this point."

The city charter says acting directors can only serve for 90 days. Mr. Ravenstahl said the directors' resignation letters were submitted, but not accepted, so they are not acting directors.

The exception is acting Solicitor George Specter, who has been in that capacity for 13 months.