Mayor Luke Ravenstahl vowed this morning to keep going to concerts and bars in city-owned vehicles, saying that is a regular part of life for a 27-year-old.

But U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan this afternoon vowed to examine the mayor's use of a vehicle purchased with federal Homeland Security funds, saying that is a regular part of her duties.

At issue is whether the mayor's use of an intelligence unit vehicle violated the terms of the grant used for its purchase, and a Fraternal Order of Police attorney said today that the sergeant who was nearly disciplined for violating the chain of command when she complained about Mr. Ravenstahl's use of the vehicle made multiple efforts to express her concerns.

At a breakfast speech before the Executive Women's Council at the Duquesne Club, Downtown, Mr. Ravenstahl admitted making a mistake when taking a private jet trip to New York with Penguins owner Ron Burkle in March, just after agreeing to a publicly financed arena for the hockey team.

But he said he did nothing wrong in taking a federally funded police vehicle to a Toby Keith concert in August, as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported today. The Police Bureau threatened to reprimand the police sergeant who reported the use of the vehicle, before that discipline was blocked by the city's Public Safety director.

"I understand I'm being held to a higher standard but at the same time I'm going to continue to be who I am, because that's the only way I know to be. Have I learned? Absolutely. Will I carefully consider decisions that I make? Absolutely," he said.

"But at the end of the day, I'm still going to continue to be who I'm going to be, and go to concerts like I always have, and go to have a drink with my wife in bars. That's what 27-year-olds do and I shouldn't be any different . . . I'm not going to change my life to appease the media or appease somebody who wants me to be somebody I'm not. I think the fact that I'm 27 is something the city should embrace and it's something that I've embraced. And if you look at the issues that are of importance and what we've done as an administration over 13 months I'm very proud of where we're at," Mr. Ravenstahl said.

This afternoon, Ms. Buchanan said her office will review the mayor's use of the police vehicle.

"The recent allegations regarding improprieties by Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl that have been brought to the attention of my office will be reviewed, as are all allegations of misconduct by public officials," Ms. Buchanan said in a statement. "Without complete knowledge of the facts, it would be premature to discuss potential federal criminal violations."

Sgt. Mona Wallace was threatened with a reprimand in August when she objected to Mr. Ravenstahl's use of a GMC Yukon purchased with federal Department of Homeland Security grant funds. The mayor had made use of the vehicle for everything from travel to Harrisburg to a trip with his wife and friends to a Toby Keith concert at Post-Gazette Pavilion.

The discipline, later withdrawn, went to Public Safety Director Michael Huss, who oversees Police Chief Nate Harper.

"My understanding is, initially, she did -- she went through the chain of command," said FOP lawyer Bryan Campbell. He didn't know how many times, nor when she began complaining of the mayor's practice to her superiors within the Police Bureau.

Her concern, said Mr. Campbell, was driven by the fact that the vehicle was paid for with Homeland Security money that has strings attached to it. "Because it is a grant, there are restrictions on the usage" of the vehicles, he said. If it was misused, "The grant could be withdrawn, and the vehicle could be withdrawn."

He said the FOP was ready to go to arbitration to have the discipline withdrawn when it was nixed by Mr. Huss.

Republican mayoral challenger Mark DeSantis called the use of the vehicle for personal travel "really poor judgment, to say that you don't know that a Yukon with tinted windows and packed with electronic equipment is not a police or emergency vehicle is absurd. That's just really poor judgment. The voters are going to have to make some hard decisions and think deeply about whether they want him to be their mayor."

He called the Police Bureau's initial decision to discipline Sgt. Wallace "unacceptable. Anybody in city government should feel comfortable, if they see something wrong, they should feel very comfortable telling people what they think and feel about that situation.

"I've advocated a whistleblower provision that allows anybody in city government, pretty much, if they see something that they're not comfortable with, to state what they see and be clear about it."

At the executive women's forum, a woman asked the mayor to explain his behavior, which she said "calls into question your judgment about a lot of things." Mr. Ravenstahl said he commonly took city-owned vehicles to private functions and that press reports on his vehicle use were unfair.

"I would say you have too much faith in the media because they blow things way out of proportion. I'd be happy to talk to incident by incident with you -- I told you the New York thing is something I regret but I firmly believe that everything else was significantly blown out of proportion . . .

"They could write that story every day if they wanted to. I respect your opinion but unfortunately we're going to disagree," he said.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.