The appointment of a top union official to Pittsburgh’s planning commission appears to be in limbo three months after it was sent to City Council for approval.
Mayor Ed Gainey nominated Silas Russell, the political director for SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania, in March to join the commission, which regulates land use and major development projects in the city. The union spent heavily to get Gainey elected in 2021, and Russell co-chaired the mayor’s campaign and transition team.
Russell told the Union Progress last month that the mayor’s office asked whether he’d be interested in serving on the commission, and he was “excited” to say yes. If confirmed to the commission, Russell said he’d seek to foster “good, affordable, sustainable, transit-oriented planning and development.”
City Council President Theresa Kail-Smith blocked the nomination and did not introduce it for Council action. She then moved to get input about it from the State Ethics Commission, asking “out of an abundance of caution” whether Council could proceed with the nomination and if there were conflict of interest and disclosure policies that should be considered for both Council and Russell.
“Kail-Smith is seeking guidance from the State Ethics Commission due to a unique situation concerning the propriety and degree of influence SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania, allegedly may have over the executive and administrative functions of city government, in a ripe controversy with the employer UPMC,” the Council solicitor wrote in a late May letter obtained by the Union Progress through a records request.
The letter cited recent reports from KDKA-TV, including one with emails showing Russell helped draft talking points for the mayor ahead of a key meeting with UPMC about the health giant potentially contributing more to the city’s coffers. One talking point said the mayor should “need them to commit to a fair election arrangement with SEIU to bring to an end the long and contentious dispute between UPMC and its front-line workers.”
The Ethics Commission did not issue advice to Kail-Smith in part because she lacked standing to ask for it, according to a letter obtained by the Union Progress. Bridget Guilfoyle, the commission’s top lawyer, said only Russell or the person appointing him — the mayor — would be permitted under state law to request advice.
Guilfoyle also added that even if Kail-Smith could submit a request, she did not provide enough information for the Ethics Commission to evaluate.
“The news articles and opinion column submitted with the advisory request would not constitute facts upon which an advisory as to Mr. Russell’s prospective conduct may be based,” Guilfoyle wrote.
Neither Kail-Smith, nor a spokesperson for the mayor, responded to multiple requests for comment.
The showdown over Russell’s nomination, and who gets to sit on the planning commission, could repeat itself several times over the next year. Terms for five of the nine commissioners will expire over the next year, including that of chair Christine Mondor, giving the Gainey administration an opportunity to build a majority that shares its views.
This story was updated to reflect an additional document received from the Ethics Commission.
Jon, a copy editor and reporter at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, is currently on strike and working as a co-editor of the Pittsburgh Union Progress. Reach him at jmoss@unionprogress.com.
