Pittsburgh campaign rules curb contributions, but punish some candidates

Pittsburgh’s decade-long effort to limit the influence of money in city politics now faces both a court challenge and complaints from some candidates that it threatens to stifle democracy.

“Pittsburgh and other cities, and counties, need to be more forward and be more aggressive at setting up their own campaign finance laws,” said Micah Sims, executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, a nonpartisan government accountability group.