"In both instances, the departing officials received contracts worth far more than their county salaries to do work similar to what they had done while on the county payroll. A third consultant, who never worked for the county but managed Curry's first campaign for county executive, also secured a no-bid contract worth as much as $175,000 a year to review bond policy. " Linda W. Botts: Linda W. Botts is Wayne Curry’s former deputy chief administrative officer at a salary of $99,000/year. While still employed by Curry, Botts established Ashlin Management Group. Botts quit her job with Curry at the beginning of August 1996. Two days later, county records show her firm received a $65,000 contract from the county. Before the end of the year, the county blessed her firm with another $475,000 contract. The Post’s research revealed that Botts’ company, Ashlin Management, so far has performed more than $1.6 million in contract services for the county, some of which were no-bid, non-competed contract awards. Botts and her husband have contributed more than $18,000 to Wayne Curry’s two successful campaigns for Prince Georges County executive. Botts’ first $65,000 contract with the county was to train her successor. (Most employers take a different route to train replacement personnel: they keep the incoming and outgoing individual on the payroll while the training takes place.) William D. Miller, II:William D. Miller, II was Wayne Curry’s dispenser of political contracting favors during construction of the Redskins Stadium. His official job description during that time was "senior adviser for economic development". His county salary was $116,980 a year. Within three days of leaving Curry’s employment, Miller received a non-compted contract for $525,000 according to the Washington Post. The scope of Miller’s contract involves expediting construction of 13 neighborhood schools. Like his previous job as Curry’s "point man" on stadium construction, this new consulting contract gave him the same power to dispense political favors in the construction of 13 new neighborhood schools in the county. The official terms used are "expediter" and "liaison". Not surprisingly, Curry and his faithful henchman Miller have come under fire for playing politics with the construction of the schools, and delaying the process. The Post quotes State Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, Jr. as saying: "The reason that school settlement was so hard to reach was that state officials were worried that Curry would . . . have the major say in where these schools were located. It's one thing to play politics with Jack Kent Cooke and the Redskins [Stadium]. It's another to play politics with where schools will go to please developers and his special friends." William D. Miller, II "declined to respond to [the Post’s] questions about his contract, but in earlier interviews, he said part of his job was to keep school construction on schedule by expediting the permit process." Gregory K. Wells: Gregory K. Wells is Wayne Curry’s former campaign manager, and he is also a medical malpractice lawyer. In 1996, Curry gave Wells a $75,000 county appointment as "people’s zoning counsel" to assist the county with zoning issues. Wells resigned that county post in 1998 and has since received over $250,000 in contracted legal services from the county. According to the Post, none of these contracts were put out for competitive bidding. One county council member said Wells’ contracts appear to duplicate the services of another outside legal firm which the county has retained for many years. Prince Georges County bills for outside legal counsel have ranged annually between $500,000 to $1.6 million since Curry took office in 1995. By comparison, neighboring Montgomery County spend only $388,000 last year on outside legal counsel. (Based on the Washington Post story, 07/23/00,
page C01, by David S. Fallis and Scott Wilson) Additional reading on this topic: Page (1) Prince Georges: Overview of Racial and Political Favoritism (07/09/00) Page (2) Prince Georges: Redskins Stadium, Racial and Political Contract Deals (07/09/00) Page (4) Prince Georges: Term Limits are Racist? (10/24/00) END (3) Prince Georges: Political Donors, Allies Rewarded |
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| (2) Prince Georges: Race-Based Stadium Deal 07/09/00 |
(3) Prince Georges: Political Donors, Allies Rewarded 07/23/00 |
(4) Prince Georges: Term Limits are Racist? 10/24/00 |
CITY Contracting and Set-Asides General |
STATE Contracting and Set-Asides General |
