Ravenstahl criticized for hitting camp

Timothy McNulty | August 20, 2009

Luke Ravenstahl is has a fight going with KDKA radio over reports that he was at Steelers training camp on Tuesday instead of attending a media briefing on the G-20 summit.

Ravenstahl admits going to camp -- he did an interview with the station while there, so it's not something he's trying to hide -- but says it had no impact on his responsibilities as mayor. He wasn't expected to be at the G-20 press briefing (which was rather frustratingly free of any good information), he said, so the station shouldn't have made a connection between the two.

"The suggestion somehow that responsibilities were neglected is flat-out wrong," Ravenstahl said this morning on Marty Griffin's KDKA radio show.

The mayor also said he had a "man to man" talk with KDKA general manager Michael Young, in which he argued that his trip to training camp was not news. Obviously that didn't work, as the story was all over the station last night -- one of Ravenstahl's two opponents in the November election is now talking about it too.

"KDKA Radio's report that Mayor Ravenstahl yesterday chose to attend Steelers' training camp instead of a weekly G-20 media briefing is yet another unfortunate reminder that the Mayor places himself and his own whims ahead of the needs of Pittsburghers and the important work that we elect him to do.  While our men and women in uniform were working hard to prepare for the G-20, Luke Ravenstahl thought it was appropriate to take time off to watch the Steelers prepare for an exhibition game," Kevin Acklin said in a press release last night.

"While I understand the Mayor doesn't have to attend every meeting or briefing on the event, with less than six weeks to go until the G-20, as Mayor, I would have a far different set of priorities. I'd be spending every moment I could to help prepare our city, our workforce, and our region for both the opportunities and the challenges ahead. The people of Pittsburgh deserve a Mayor who's working hard in their neighborhoods, not playing at Steelers' training camp."

It's also worth noting that Ravenstahl made his trip to Latrobe one day after asking Pittsburgh City Council to return early from its recess to work on G-20 related legislation.

The Steeler fandom by the mayor (aka "Steelerstahl") is also well known, of course. He defended it again to a caller to Griffin's show. "You think I should have no life between now and [the last day of the summit on] Sept. 25? I disagree."

(Photo above: Ravenstahl and rapper Snoop Dogg at the Steelers Super Bowl victory party in Tampa in February.)