Mayor Elorza: No-bid advertising contract with GoLocalProv ‘reeks of cronyism’
Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza said Thursday a no-bid advertising contract between the city clerk’s office and media outlet GoLocalProv “reeks of cronyism,” blaming then-City Council President Luis Aponte for entering into the agreement.
Elorza’s statement came two days after current Council President David Salvatore called on GoLocalProv to return $67,500 it received from the city over two years for publishing public notices online. Salvatore said an existing city ordinance requires most city contracts worth more than $5,000 to go out to bid.
“Our law department is conducting a review of the procurement of this contract but regardless of that outcome, this whole situation reeks of cronyism,” Elorza said. “Councilman Aponte should have never entered into such a wasteful and dubious agreement and I commend Council President Salvatore for putting an immediate stop to it when he became president.”
“We’re moving away from the days of corruption and the fact that taxpayer dollars were used in this way is shameful,” Elorza added.
The law department, which represents both the administration and the City Council, has also come under fire from the city treasurer for not going out to bid for legal services. But the department has long maintained that outside lawyer contracts are not required to go before the city’s Board of Contract and Supply.
Aponte said earlier this week the GoLocalProv advertising contract was part of a broader plan to find new ways to inform residents about public meetings. He said the original contract for $3,000 was not required to go out to bid, but he was unable to explain why the agreement didn’t go out to bid following the first month of services.
The arrangement was in place between January 2016 and January 2018. Salvatore ended the contract shortly after becoming council president.
GoLocalProv was co-founded by former Providence City Councilman Josh Fenton, who represented Ward 3 as an independent between 1991 and 1995. The news outlet has long focused on city and state politics, and has been highly critical of both Elorza and Salvatore.
Earlier this week, Fenton said GoLocalProv followed through on all of its commitments in the contract with the clerk’s office. Fenton said the process for awarding city contracts is up to the council and clerk’s office, not his news outlet.
In an email Thursday, Fenton pointed to a GoLocalProv story accusing the Elorza administration of steering legal contracts to campaign donors.
“A GoLocal investigation found that Mayor Elorza has sent millions in legal fees to law firms in Providence — none of the legal fees were approved by the Board of Contract and Supply. Combined, those law firms have donated hundreds of thousands to his campaign. Even Buddy Cianci sent the agreements with law firms to the Board of Contract and Supply.
Fenton continued: “GoLocal was approached by the city of Providence, the city executed a contract,” Fenton said. “If the city did not follow its own procedures, I would question if that is a failure of the mayor’s administration’s protocols and procedures. Based on the approach to legal fees, I guess the only difference is GoLocal’s staff did not donate to the mayor. We do not donate to political campaign — only non-profits as a company.”
