When are calls to resign a statement, and when are they an obligation?

The questions swirling around Pittsburgh’s finances under Ed Gainey’s mayoral administration are not going away. It’s an issue that began while Gainey was still in office. They have only grown as Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr.’s sealed subpoenas of financial information have been revealed as an investigation into possible bid rigging. The DA insists people will be charged in the probe.

It seemed all but inevitable that calls would surface for Gainey to step down from his position on the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.

Gainey, who was a state representative before being elected to one term as mayor, was appointed to the gaming board in February, a month after leaving office. The position comes with a $145,000 salary, just like that of the Pittsburgh mayor.

“As the regulator of a multibillion-dollar industry in which the Commonwealth is a major stakeholder, the Gaming Control Board needs to stay above the fray in any type of political scandal,” said Rep. Russ Diamond, R-Lebanon, chairman of the House Gaming Oversight Committee.

Gambling in Pennsylvania is a $7 billion industry. It’s growing annually and requires consistent, careful oversight. Diamond is not wrong in saying the board must appear above impropriety.

That doesn’t mean Gainey should be pushed out against his will. Zappala says charges will be filed, but he doesn’t say against whom, and those charges have yet to be pressed. Statements into a microphone aren’t the same as an affidavit of probable cause supporting criminal charges.

However, that doesn’t mean Gainey shouldn’t take the call seriously.

The former mayor is not currently an elected official. He cannot claim a right to the seat on the Gaming Control Board based on the will of the people. He owes his position to the appointment of Pennsylvania Speaker of the House Joanna McClinton, D-Philadelphia.

We do not echo Diamond’s call for resignation. That doesn’t mean it should be ignored.

Gainey still is receiving a government paycheck while his governance of the state’s second-largest city is being questioned on both a simple administrative level as well as a potentially criminal one. Of course there would be people suggesting he step down.

Should he? That’s for him to decide. But thus far, Gainey remains silent on both the probe and the call to resign.