Two days after his chief of staff was called to testify before a federal grand jury, Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said he remains "confident" that investigators probing members of his administration will find nothing illegal.
"I and we have done nothing wrong and I'm confident that'll come out in the end," he said following a meeting of the Comprehensive Municipal Pension Trust Fund Board, of which he is a member. "I'm confident that everything that we've done in this administration has been appropriate and I'm confident that will come out in the end."
Tuesday, Mr. Ravenstahl's chief of staff, Yarone Zober, 38, who also chairs the board of the Urban Redevelopment Authority, testified for more than an hour before a federal grand jury. His attorney said he was subpoenaed as a fact witness.
Ashlee Olivo, 26, a KDKA-TV account executive who has dated the mayor, also testified that morning. Her attorney said she, too, was subpoenaed as a fact witness.
Mr. Ravenstahl declined to comment on his relationship with Ms. Olivo or any work she has done for his administration.
In September of 2012, she worked with the city on a campaign to raise money for breast cancer research through sales of Panera bagels, a project that was touted by the mayor in a press conference and later during a round table interview on KDKA.
Mr. Ravenstahl declined to say whether his administration has responded to any more subpoenas for documents or to testify before the grand jury.
But he said his administration has been cooperative with federal investigators.
"They continue to ask questions and we continue to cooperate," he said.
Urban Redevelopment Authority Solicitor George Specter and that agency's acting executive director Robert Rubinstein today would not detail a federal subpoena that the city's development arm received Sept. 4, which was disclosed Wednesday.
Mr. Specter said the agency is "in the process of complying," noting that there "is a certain volume" of records subject to the demand.
Mr. Rubinstein said Wednesday that there's "nothing under my watch that worries me." He would not say today whether the request relates solely to records of actions taken before he became acting director, in the middle of last year.
First Published: September 13, 2013, 12:15 a.m.
