Atlanta mayoral candidate Peter Aman on Wednesday said that if he were mayor he would stop a large airport procurement for new shops at the Atlanta airport which has come under scrutiny amid the ongoing City Hall bribery scandal.
Aman, a former chief operating officer under Mayor Kasim Reed, was quick not to criticize the current mayor and ongoing operations of the city. But he said there were "too many questions" about the program after a guilty plea last month by the city former chief purchasing officer, Adam Smith, and a recent raid by the FBI of a long-term city contractor.
Last month, Smith pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge and admitted to accepting more than $30,000 in bribes from an unnamed city vendor from at least 2015 to January 2017.
Also last month, the offices of PRAD Group were raided by the FBI. A now-former executive of PRAD Group, Jeff Jafari, has ties to a different company that submitted proposals for four of 10 retail contracts within the massive Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport retail procurement.
The FBI has declined to say whether the raid of PRAD’s office and the bribery investigation are connected.
So far, two longtime contractors have pleaded guilty in the bribery probe, which was thrust into public view in January.
Though Reed so far has not endorsed anyone, Aman and City Councilwoman Keisha Lance Bottoms are two of the contenders with which Reed has the warmest relationships.
Aman joined a chorus of voices among the candidates to replace Reed to question the continuing process to award the retail contract, which doesn’t expire until late next year. Reed’s term in office ends in January.
City Councilmember Ceasar Mitchell in August called for Reed and colleagues on the Council to support a moratorium on the approval of city contracts that begin services in 2018 so that the next council and mayor gets their say-so. That proposal launched a war of words between Mitchell and the mayor.
“There’s only one mayor at a time in Atlanta, and I have been clear on that,” Aman said. “But if I were mayor, I would stop that particular contracting process. There are too many questions about that. There are too many questions about the donations that contractors have given to Keisha Lance Bottoms as well as to other contractors who have contributed to Keisha Lance Bottoms.”
Aman's reference to rival Bottoms was to contributions to her campaign from PRAD and people related to the firm. Bottoms said this week she would return more than $25,000 in donations and in returning the funds also called for stronger safeguards in the city's purchasing program.
A representative for Bottoms fired back that Aman’s name, as COO, appeared on contracts for the PRAD Group, and he has his own explaining to do. The statement said Aman is desperate and throwing mud as he trails in the polls.
The Bottoms camp also called on Aman to return funds from former Equifax CEO Rick Smith, in the wake of the company's data breach, calling it "dirty money."
Aman has said under city code he had not direct role in approving vendors in his supervision of the procurement department.
She’s called for a requirement that all city employees dealing with sensitive procurement issues should be required to file their tax returns along with other financial disclosures already required by the city. Bottoms did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
So far, Reed’s office has rejected calls from candidates and an ethics watchdog to halt the airport procurement and others that don’t expire until next year, saying the city’s business shouldn’t be shut down. The mayor’s office has stated repeatedly that it is fully cooperating with federal investigators.
Aman said Wednesday the city has time to restart the procurement with a new request for proposals.
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