Mayor-Elect Gainey Names Transition Leadership And Calls On Current Peduto Appointees To Stay On Board For The Time Being
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Pittsburgh Mayor-elect Ed Gainey named the leadership of his transition team as he prepares to take office on Jan. 3. 2022.
It's just the first step in a process that could lead to new faces at city hall.
Every mayor has a special imprint on their office, and you can tell a lot about a public official by the policies they highlight and the qualifications of the people they appoint.
Now Gainey has named his transition leadership to help set that direction. No surprise, the mayor-elect has named two strong political supporters to lead his transition team.
Angel Gober, who was named chair, is the local director of One Pennsylvania, a social justice organization, and Silas Russell, who was named co-chair, is the political director of the Service Employees Union representing health care workers.
Gainey also named Jake Pawlak, his senior campaign advisor, to serve as transition director running day-to-day operations and Lisa Frank, a senior SEIU official, to serve as transition advisor with a focus on policy and partnerships.
Pawlak told KDKA political editor Jon Delano that this is just a first step with policy teams to be announced in December to gather public input for the new mayor.
"There will be specific teams with specific charges that are tackling specific policy areas or areas of interest to the public, and they will have a process for soliciting that feedback," Pawlak said.
Pawlak said the mayor-elect has asked all current city employees appointed by Mayor Bill Peduto to stay on if they wish to do so.
"We are interested in talking to everyone who currently works for the city in one of those capacities to find out their level of interest in remaining and how they think they might be able to contribute and continue serving," Pawlak said.
There are just under 100 city employees who serve at the will of the mayor.
As for the policy teams to be created next month, they will operate well into the New Year even after Gainey gets sworn in as mayor on January
