As Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens seeks to rein in the city’s hard-nosed inspector general, a city contractor who was severely rebuked by the IG is set to receive a hefty extension today.
In August, Inspector General Shannon Manigault’s office recommended the city stop doing business with Cloverhurst Strategies, a company operated by political insider Bernie Tokarz.
Cloverhurst, in a joint venture with The Aaron Group, provides off-duty officers to work security at parks, pools and youth basketball leagues. The Aaron Group was founded by Aaron Turpeau, a man whose generational contacts within City Hall make Tokarz’s look like a piker.
Manigault said the contract “raises concerns of cronyism and patronage.” And “waste.”
The phrase “cronyism, patronage and waste” has long been an unofficial axiom at City Hall. The IG’s office, in fact, was created to help undo such activities.
Tokarz, who has involved himself with political campaigns and government contracting for years, was cagey while seeking a city contract, Manigault wrote. She said he did not list potential conflicts of interest in his bid proposal and chided his “evasiveness regarding his financial relationships with city employees.”
The contract was initially set for $750,000 in 2022 and has received three add-ons since, affording the firm an additional $3 million in business the past two years.
A second firm, Metropolitan Security Associates, was also to share that contract. But they had difficulty getting insurance bonding. When that was finally fixed, the city still gave Cloverhurst 10 times more business — $1.7 million versus MSA’s $174,000.
Also, Cloverhurst’s rates were 23% higher.
On Monday, the City Council is set to retroactively extend the contract, sending another $1.5 million Tokarz’s way.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Last month, the council was ready to quietly approve the latest contract add-on until a former IG’s office employee came to the meeting to urge the council to slam the brakes on the process. It did, but the proposal has returned.
Tokarz’s attorney, Stephen Katz, has fired back at the IG’s report, calling it an out-of-control fishing expedition that arrived at meritless findings that “border on slander.”
He tossed in “McCarthyism” to spice up his written retort.
Tokarz sent me a note saying, “I am proud of how we conduct our business with the City of Atlanta and we operate in accordance with our core values, which include integrity, reliability and transparency. I look forward to continuing to service the city for many years to come.”
During the investigation, Manigault’s office wound its way through a twisted web of connections between city officials, employees and vendors. Sometimes those players occupied more than one role.
“Over the course of this investigation, (the IG) has observed several instances of business dealings between city officials and employees and their friends,” she wrote.
It is a chummy place.
It’s hard to squeeze all the details of Manigault’s 42-page findings into my limited space. Here’s the CliffsNotes version:
In his bid proposal in 2022, Tokarz used the name of Vanessa Manley as a reference. She was listed as a contact with Groundwork Consulting, a firm that was to vouch for Tokarz’s firm.
At the time, she was also a city employee working in the office of Councilman Michael Bond, according to the IG. Her outside company was also getting city business. And Tokarz was also chair and treasurer for Bond’s campaign.
Manley had also previously worked for Councilwoman Andrea Boone, another City Hall mainstay.
In February, when the IG started asking Boone about some invoices connected with Manley, the councilwoman told the watchdog to investigate “real fraud and waste and corruption.”
Three months later, in May, Manigault strolled into a City Council meeting to publicly complain she was being systematically undercut and stymied by city officials. Boone at the time seemed to be ready and immediately fired back at her.
When the IG’s report came out, the reason for Boone’s animus became apparent.
That investigation, coupled with Manigault’s public complaints, has set off a mini crisis at City Hall. The city, under Dickens’ guidance, has created a task force to look at how the IG’s office operates.
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
The mayor felt the IG’s bite last year when an investigation discovered that his office booked rooms for members of Dickens’ family, including his mom, at the Senior Ball.
Dickens later repaid the hotel bills. But I don’t think he’s forgotten. One doesn’t mess with a fellow’s mama and get off easy.
The mayor and others have complained the IG has run amok. The fact that her office has purchased spy pens and nanny cams has freaked ‘em out.
“Absolute power corrupts absolutely,” Dickens said last week. “There should be checks and balances — no one should play judge, jury (and) execution(er).”
Dickens called recommendations for changes to the IG’s office “grounded in common sense.”
Manigault says the recommendations would handcuff her office.
The plan would clearly spell out to employees what is being investigated and afford them attorneys, potentially paid for by the city. Investigations could get pricey quickly.
The task force also recommended the IG investigate only “substantial misconduct, such as gross mismanagement, gross waste of funds, or a substantial violation of law.”
It reeks of Boone’s statement to only look into “real fraud.”
I guess the minor chiselers can just swim free.
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