Another Not-So Random Memory

Do you guys remember this? Rich Lord was barking and running around in circles for like a week.

Pittsburgh is on the verge of awarding a lucrative consulting contract to a firm that could help cut the city's $8.4 million utility bill, but it is using a process that effectively excludes competitors and raises questions about fairness. (P-G, 3/28/07)

The RFPs were sent out just prior to, and the submissions due just after, the Christmas holiday.

Charles Zappala contributed $10,000 to the campaign of late Mayor Bob O'Connor. Though a political committee he funds gave Luke Ravenstahl's 2003 City Council campaign $500, he did not give to his campaign fund last year. He is an investor in the group that sought a slot machine casino for Station Square and is now suing to overturn a Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board decision to allow a competitor to build it on the North Shore.

CLT has landed contracts to improve energy usage for Butler County, the city of Erie and various schools. (P-G, ibid)

They are good at landing contracts from Pennsylvania politicians. That seems to be the core and only business competency.

The lack of competition for the job can't be good, said Elaine Sadowski, a former city energy manager and later a consultant to governments including Allegheny County that were starting energy saving programs like the one the city is now launching.

"It strikes me as very odd because there are so many firms out there doing this kind of work," she said. "When we did the county, I believe we had seven" respondents. Ms. Sadowski was fired by the city in the mid-1990s and successfully sued for wrongful termination. (P-G, 3/29/07)

I think Rich was trying to tell us something! What's that, girl? Trouble? Down by the old mill? Let's go, you lead the way!

We'll have to add this material to this post, which I will be editing, updating, polishing and republishing periodically.