William Peduto/target

==City Paper==
* http://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/for-peduto-administration-transparency-is-still-a-work-in-progress/Content?oid=1803094
* http://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/despite-some-concerns-pittsburgh-mayor-bill-peduto-gets-high-marks-for-freshman-year/Content?oid=1803088
==Pitt News Article in 2008==
:November 6, 2008, by Lindsay Carroll, Senior Staff Writer, Pitt News
===Councilman Bill Peduto marches to his own drumbeat===
City Councilman Bill Peduto wanted to conduct a political experiment.
After working as chief of staff for his predecessor, former councilman Dan Cohen, he thought it might be his turn to run for office in 2001.
“I ran under the promise to myself that I would do everything that I thought was right, even though it may be politically wrong,” said Peduto. “I was just going to be me, I was going to vote the way that was right and let the chips fall where they may. And it was almost like a political experiment.”
Peduto represents Pittsburgh’s eighth district, which includes North Oakland, parts of West Oakland, Shadyside, Bloomfield and Squirrel Hill.
In 2004, Peduto made a plan for the future of Oakland, which included ideas to make the area pedestrian-friendly and expansive.
He worked with Andrew Zins, owner of Cafe Sam on Baum Boulevard, to plan development for the Baum and Centre Avenue corridor in North Oakland.
Zins, whose restaurant has been on Baum for 22 years, said that Peduto’s goal of diversifying the area considered everyone involved.
“I think he’s guided by a sense of what’s right for the community, regardless of any political consequences,” said Zins.
Peduto went against some community members when he led an initiative to build Schenley Plaza.
“There were people that were very upset about the loss of parking,” said Peduto. “If you look at it now and say, ‘OK, we’re going to tear it down and build a surface parking lot,’ I think people would cause a revolution.”
Peduto said he wants to “green-up” Oakland even further by putting trees on Forbes Avenue and making it as pedestrian friendly as Fifth Avenue. He said the neighborhood needs a new public transit route in order to grow — and plans with community input.
He said students should have more say in City Council decisions, even though primary elections occur during Pitt’s summer break.
“In Pittsburgh, elections are determined in the primary. And by the time second or third week of May comes around, the Towers are empty,” said Peduto. “If students were to stay, or if they were to register and do a strong effort for absentee ballot, the voice of students would become not one of the small minority, but one of the strongest majority votes in the city.”
An unusual career path
Although Peduto was always interested in politics, he didn’t finish his political science degree until about two years ago, he said.
He left Penn State University with three courses remaining, even though he had about 150 credits.
“I had five majors, so I just put off getting the remaining courses,” he said. “It’s probably not the usual path.”
After working as a campaign manager, Peduto decided to switch gears and work in local government, leading to his election to City Council. He ran for mayor twice in the democratic primaries — first, against former mayor Bob O’Connor, finishing second, and later in 2007 after O’Connor died in office.
Peduto said his first campaign “was magic,” even though he lost. Hiring fresh campaigners helped make the race unique, leading him to knock on doors and make midnight speeches in the South Side.
But Peduto said that in his second race, after O’Connor’s death, the political climate changed. He realized that he could not beat Ravenstahl’s high numbers without a negative campaign, so he withdrew.
After the short race, Peduto said he wanted to recharge his political batteries. Over the summer, he traveled to learn about green government in Norway and cultural interaction in Turkey.
A Turkish flag sat next to bobble-head dolls and books on his office shelves.
The critic
Peduto, who has criticized Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s administration, said that campaign contributions are often used as leverage for favors in Pittsburgh politics.
“I’ve been in politics for over 20 years, and I’ve been in city government for nearly 14,” said Peduto. “I’ve never seen the culture of pay-to-play as prevalent as it is today.”
Fred Terling, Mayor Ravenstahl’s campaign manager, said that if pay-to-play were true, 3,800 campaign donors would be benefiting.
“It’s easy to pull someone up on the list and say, “Aha! They got a contract,’” said Terling. “We don’t do that with people, we hope that people raise money, and that’s basically how it goes.”
Peduto said that running for mayor will be a future option. But currently, he plans to run for reelection in his district.
He said when he leaves the City-County Building, he wants to feel that he did everything he wanted.
“There are no votes I would change. I never have to think twice, I never have to prepare a speech or an interview, because I don’t have to think about what I said the last time,” he said.
“And it has caused me friction within the establishment of politics, but I don’t go out to hurt people,” said Peduto. “It’s just that if somebody’s taking two cookies from the cookie jar, I’m going to point it out and say it’s not right.”
==Article in Tribune Review in January 2010==
===Pittsburgh Councilman Peduto stakes out independent path===
Jeremy Boren is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review staff writer and can be reached at 412-765-2312 or via e-mail.
: Monday, January 11, 2010
In ice hockey and politics, City Councilman Bill Peduto often finds himself leading the opposition.
"In high school, I was the guy who watched the other team's top scorer. I made sure their top scorer didn't get a goal," said Peduto, a defenseman who wears a green No. 73 jersey, white helmet and blue-and-gold striped socks in the "Iron Lung" over-40 ice hockey league that plays on Neville Island.
Outside the rink, Peduto finds himself playing a supporting role in high-profile Pittsburgh politics despite loftier ambitions. In 2007, he bowed out of a mayoral primary battle with incumbent Luke Ravenstahl. Last Monday, he narrowly lost an intense campaign to become City Council president.
Critics say Peduto has failed to rise in city politics because he too often opposes Ravenstahl without first trying to build consensus and doesn't appeal to voters outside his council district. Peduto contends it's because he's unwilling to auction off his votes on legislation for political gain.
"I felt I deserved a promotion. I am the most-senior elected member of city government," Peduto said last week, a few days into his ninth year representing some of the city's most affluent neighborhoods, including Shadyside, North Oakland, Point Breeze and parts of Friendship, Bloomfield and East Liberty.
"But I'm not the first person to lose the council presidency due to politics," he said.
Peduto blamed his loss, in part, on council's notoriously slippery political allegiances and influence from Ravenstahl and Councilman Patrick Dowd with an "anybody but Peduto" campaign. Councilwoman Darlene Harris won 5-4 because Peduto agreed to vote for her along with his three supporters: Doug Shields, Natalia Rudiak and Bruce Kraus.
"I was looking for an independent voice," Harris said. "Bill is very strong-minded, and I have seen some times that it's been difficult for he and the mayor to work together."
Harris isn't the only one who thinks so.
"Legitimate objections are one thing, but if Bill is saying 'night' simply because Luke is saying 'day,' people are going to stop listening," said Jim Burn, chairman of the Allegheny County Democratic Committee, who stressed he has always gotten along with Peduto.
Ravenstahl, 29, and Peduto, 45, have cooperated, but not often. Ravenstahl last year signed legislation written by Peduto that limits campaign contributions. The mayor had vetoed a similar bill the previous year.
Daniel I. Booker, a Shadyside lawyer who donated to Peduto's campaign, said the councilman would have made a good council president and mayor.
"He's maybe a little bit too much of an independent mind, and not willing enough to strike the deals you have to strike to get those jobs," Booker said. "When he concluded he couldn't win against Ravenstahl, instead of giving up public life, he devoted himself to his district."
Peduto said he's trying to improve the city, not just his district.
Last week, he spent nearly two hours at a meeting with city officials, a sculptor and the Rev. John Dinello to plan a memorial in front of Immaculate Conception-St. Joseph Parish in Bloomfield for three slain city police officers. The church is in Dowd's district.
This year he plans to expand environmentally friendly initiatives for which he has become known; push for a commuter rail line that would connect Hazelwood, Oakland, Bloomfield and Lawrenceville; and introduce legislation to require tax-increment financing plans, known as TIFs, to improve or build public infrastructure rather than benefit privately held properties.
Former Councilwoman Tonya Payne of Uptown said Peduto failed to become mayor and council president because the demands of his district are uniquely white-collar in a mainly blue-collar city, so he's viewed as an outsider.
The two had a falling out during Payne's unsuccessful re-election campaign last year. Peduto campaigned on behalf of new Councilman Robert Daniel Lavelle and Peduto's campaign donated $6,215 worth of in-kind contributions to Lavelle.
Lavelle didn't return the favor. He supported Councilwoman Theresa Smith for president.
"Bill believes that the whole city of Pittsburgh is pretty much like his district. It isn't," Payne said. "It's mostly working-class people, who are doing their work and raising their kids. The majority of people don't have it as good as the people in his district."
Peduto must learn how to build more consensus among council members from different neighborhoods to be effective, said Jim Burnham, a Duquesne University professor who worked on the campaign of Peduto's Republican opponent last year.
The councilman intends to do just that to make 2010 a productive year.
"Council is so young. You have six members who have two years or less in city hall," he said. "So there's a lot of opportunity to quietly create examples and pass along my institutional knowledge."
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