Unsealed warrant alleges awards of no-bid contracts under Gainey administration
A warrant unsealed on Monday alleges widespread awards of no-bid contracts to reward supporters of Ed Gainey while he was the mayor of Pittsburgh.
Back in March, Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala hit the city of Pittsburgh with a series of warrants, looking into allegations of corruption in the recently exited Gainey administration.
Acting on allegations of a former city council solicitor, the warrant sought scores of contracts awarded under the former mayor, alleging a pattern of circumventing bidding laws.
These include $2 million in so-called Stop the Violence grants awarded to more than two dozen community organizations who supported Gainey's election. Those awards have been criticized for not requiring work performance documentation and the warrant states the Gainey administration used a waiver form to award the money on a no-bid exemption basis.
The former council solicitor referred to the award of contracts under Gainey as "an exemption buffet," saying 20 percent of the contracts under Gainey were no-bid compared to less than 10 percent in former administrations.
It cited the $180,000 award to the consulting group Matrix to study police staffing. The warrant document alleges the contract was steered specifically to Matrix, which came under fire for concluding that despite falling numbers and retirements, the police bureau was adequately staffed.
The warrant document states the rampant awarding of these contracts has resulted in the city's current fiscal condition and questions the former mayor's relations with those who received them, including 1Hood Media, the POISE Foundation, the Homewood Community Sport Program, BikePGH and Operation Better Block.
Zappala has been investigating the Gainey administration for more than two years and he has served other warrants in addition to this one. He will need to prove the award of these contracts is more than just patronage and that city money was spent for political benefit.
