PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto hopes to put the controversy surrounding his appearance on the TV reality show “Undercover Boss” behind him after getting new donations for workers featured on the episode.
“It wasn't very hard to raise the money. In fact, if we needed to raise the money, I think we could raise about double what we need,” Peduto told Channel 11.
VisitPittsburgh had donated $25,000, which was part of $155,000 that Peduot raised and handed out to several city employees during his network TV appearance.
However, Allegheny County Controller Chelsa Wagner raised questions about the donation because VisitPittsburgh is largely funded by tax dollars.
Peduto maintained that the donation was an appropriate use of the tourism agency’s budget since the show promoted the city, but he said Thursday that the negative publicity surrounding the donation prompted him to pull the request.
“We did not want to put the VisitPittsburgh board in a situation where they were uncomfortable to take a vote. I feel it's very unfortunate. Their core mission is to be able to get the good news about Pittsburgh out, and we were able to get it out to 9 million people - basically pennies on the dollar,” said Peduto.
To replace VisitPittsburgh’s donation, Peduto received a $15,000 donation from members of the Central Catholic Alumni Association and another $10,000 from Huntington Bank.
While the mayor said dealing with the controversy has been a struggle, Peduto said he would do it all again for the publicity the city has gotten.
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