Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl vigorously defended today his administration's decision to settle with former Urban Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Pat Ford, denying that the payment of $93,000 in salary plus benefits was "hush money" and saying he has no reason to believe that broad accusations of corruption have spawned an investigation.

Mr. Ford "relinquished any ability for him to file any future claims against the URA, which I think is a very important point, and is why the settlement was reached," Mr. Ravenstahl said.

The settlement also barred Mr. Ford from disparaging the URA.

"It wasn't so he couldn't talk," the mayor said. "He wrote a [resignation] letter that was very damaging, and said a lot of things in that letter. If it was in our interest to hush him, I think we would have hushed him before he wrote that letter."

Mr. Ford's August resignation letter alleged a "culture of deception and corruption" in the administration, but provided no details. Mr. Ravenstahl said the letter has not prompted the administration to reach out to Mr. Ford and ask him for more information on any corruption.

"I'm confident that nothing's been done wrong," Mr. Ravenstahl said. Mr. Ford "had every ability to bring those forward, and certainly still does ... At no point in time when he was an employee of the city of Pittsburgh or the URA did he mention any wrongdoing or suggest that there was something done wrong.

"Of course, now that has changed, and I think there are reasons that has changed, based on his employment status, etcetera. I said in a press conference, I think they're bogus claims and they're false, and I still believe that."

He said the URA would have had to pay Mr. Ford through the end of the year under the terms of his employment contract, and adding another six months of compensation "was a relatively small amount of money in comparison to what the legal costs potentially could have been. And in addition, it allowed us to put this employment issue behind us, allow us to move forward at the URA."

On Friday, Council President Doug Shields called on the state Attorney General and the U.S. Attorney to look into Mr. Ford's charge and, potentially, several URA contracts and billboard permits. Mr. Ravenstahl lashed out at Mr. Shields and the reporters who asked whether he'd heard from the attorney general.

"My political adversaries continue to throw mud against the wall, continue to suggest that there are investigations that are happening, continue to write letters, continue to play politics, and you all continue to carry their water by asking that question each and every time," he said. "The answer is no, I haven't been questioned. Nobody has been questioned."