Gainey-Zappala dispute escalates as DA election nears

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey is upping the ante in his public dispute with Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr.

In an interview with Tribune-Review editors and reporters last week, Gainey pushed back on criticism he has received from Zappala and said the district attorney is not present enough in the community to be effective at combating crime.

“You can’t change anything unless you are present. You have to be there. You have to be in these communities, talking to the people and trying to find out how you can better serve them,” Gainey said.

The mayor, who is supporting Zappala’s Democratic opponent Matt Dugan, said Zappala does not understand the current political dynamic of elected office. He said Zappala’s “mindset of just winning and sitting behind and not talking to the people” is not working.

Zappala became district attorney in 1998 and was reelected to a sixth term in 2019. He is seeking a seventh term.

Gainey’s criticism is politically motivated because of his support of Dugan, Zappala said. Gainey’s comments politicize public safety, he said, calling them “dangerous and sad.”

“Just a few weeks ago, Mayor Gainey said he was not going to engage in a political back-and-forth with me. Mayor Gainey has the right to remain silent but apparently not the ability,” Zappala said. “Mayor Gainey has no idea about the breadth and scope of the work that I do as district attorney, and he should turn his focus to the problems he has caused within the city of Pittsburgh.”

The open clash between Gainey and Zappala seemed to have started last year. The feud comes on the backdrop of Zappala’s tough reelection push. The 25-year incumbent lost the Democratic primary to Dugan but received enough Republican write-in votes to be placed on the GOP ballot.

“You have to be prepared to talk all the time about that work that you are doing,” Gainey said. “And if I consider myself someone that does that, then I believe (elected officials) should do it as well. It is the only way we can demonstrate that we can work together to make this the safest city in America.”

In his reelection campaign announcement last winter, Zappala ripped the Gainey administration and claimed Gainey was continuing the poor communication that started under former Mayor Bill Peduto.

Zappala said he speaks with leaders of other municipalities often and has built excellent partnerships with them. Pittsburgh is just one of more than 130 municipalities he interacts with, Zappala said.

“If Mayor Gainey wants to engage in a fruitful discussion, he can set up a meeting anytime to discuss his ideas, like many other communities do every day, instead of going through the press,” Zappala said. “From what I’ve seen, though, Mayor Gainey hasn’t given any indication that he has what it takes to keep Pittsburgh safe.”

Gainey disputed accusations that he isn’t communicative. He said he met with Zappala’s office when he first came into office.

He also has provided Zappala with information the police had on the Easter 2022 Airbnb mass shooting and other cases, he said. Last month, Gainey voiced frustration with Zappala over what he said was inaction in the Airbnb case.

“We told him what we have, and we took everything to him,” Gainey said.

Zappala didn’t respond to questions about the Airbnb case but said Gainey’s displeasure likely stems from a recent inquiry Zappala made into a recent police staffing study by Matrix Consulting Group.

Zappala said Gainey used a no-bid contract with Matrix that skirted transparency and accountability laws. He also criticized the study and said it suggested taking more than 180 Pittsburgh police officers off the streets.

He claimed the report was suggesting to “defund the police” and that the Gainey administration is following suit.

Gainey communications director Maria Montaño said the procurement of the contract for the Matrix study was voted on and approved by city council and was open to the public.

“It was done transparently in open fashion,” she said.

She also pushed back on Zappala’s claims that the report would take police officers off the streets. Montaño said the report suggested reorganization of existing resources and to move officers into a community policing unit.

However, she noted the mayor rejected some of the report’s suggestions, including creating a community policing unit. The mayor and the chief of police said every officer on the force should practice a community policing model, Montaño said, instead of just those in a separate unit.

“It was a study and there were recommendations. It doesn’t mean we are going to do everything inside it,” she said.

For Zappala, winning reelection won’t be easy.

Allegheny County Democrats boast a 2-1 voter registration edge, making any Republican race a difficult task. Republicans haven’t won a local countywide election in Allegheny County since Jim Roddey was elected county executive in 1999. Former Gov. Tom Corbett was the last Republican to carry Allegheny County in any race, winning the county by 1 percentage point in 2010.

Zappala and Republicans have placed public safety and crime at the front of their campaigns. They have warned voters that progressives like Gainey and others will lead to increases in crime, and they have blamed them for past problems.

Zappala said his partnerships with federal and state law enforcement have led to major drug busts in the city, citing the arrest of Yan Carlos Pichardo Cepeda, whose recent release led to controversy. Zappala blamed “radical judges” for releasing Pichardo Cepeda.

He touted his experience working with local law enforcement partners and said he has taken two tons of drugs and three tons of illegal firearms off the street every year over the past 10 years.

“Given our record of results, it is outrageous for the mayor to cast aspersions on the work we do with our partners in the criminal justice system to deflect from the mayor’s own failings,” Zappala said.

Republicans’ claims that he and other progressives are to blame for crime doesn’t line up with reality, Gainey said. Crime has decreased since he took office in 2022, he said.

Although violent crime and homicides increased in Pittsburgh between 2021 and 2022, the first half of this year saw homicides drop compared with those years.

Crime in Downtown and South Side has been brought up by campaigns, including Zappala’s, but crime in those neighborhoods has also been decreasing.

“It has to be a situation where you want this job. And you want to do it. That’s why I can go to work every day and smile. I know we have improved,” Gainey said. “If you were Downtown a year ago when we took over to right now, and you tell me you can’t see the difference? You don’t want to.”