Mayor Faces Questions About Grand Jury Investigation

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The last time the public saw Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl was on May 9 at a police promotions ceremony. He refused to talk to reporters then, but he had no choice today.

KDKA's Paul Martino: "How come we haven't seen you much in public lately?"

Ravenstahl: "I don't know that that's the case. Just because I'm not interacting with the media doesn't mean I'm not in public."

But the president of City Council and Allegheny County's executive director say they haven't seen the mayor either. It all coincides with a federal probe of the mayor's office.

On Wednesday, he finally faced reporters.

Most of the questions centered on the grand jury investigation underway inside the federal courthouse downtown. The mayor's bodyguards have testified. The mayor's secretary has testified. So have many others. But it's a topic the mayor says he can't talk about.

"If you have any questions, you can direct those toward my attorney," said Ravenstahl. "All these things will come out in the end. In the interest of the investigation, I'm going to leave it at that. I'm not going to get into any more details at this point."

At times, it got testy.

Ravenstahl: "I understand you might want to prosecute through the media, but I'm not going to stand here and participate."

Martino: "No, we're not prosecuting, actually we're trying to ask you and the public deserves some answers. Are you being investigated by a federal grand jury?"

Ravenstahl: "I already answered that question, you can direct that question to my attorney."

Despite his lack of public appearances and the questions swirling around a federal probe, Mayor Ravenstahl insists none of this has affected his ability to run the city.

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