Records show hundreds of thousands in campaign contributions to Weinstein from contractors for Alcosan, treasurer's office
Records show Allegheny County executive candidate John Weinstein has received more than $200,000 in campaign contributions from entities that won contracts approved by him or a board of which he was a member.
Weinstein has been county treasurer for 24 years. He also spent a decade on the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority board, including three years as chairman.
On the Alcosan board, he voted to award contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. As treasurer, he's handed out millions of dollars more in contracts.
Some of the companies that benefited have given his campaign thousands in contributions.
AECOM is an engineering firm that received millions in Alcosan contracts to help prevent sewage overflows. Company officials and the AECOM political action committee gave Weinstein's campaign $7,600 in 2014 when he was board chair.
CDM Smith is an engineering firm that also received millions in Alcosan contracts during Weinstein's tenure on the board. Its PAC gave Weinstein's campaign $5,000 in 2014 when he was board chair and another $4,000 in 2018 when he was a board member.
A PAC for First National Bank, which has received two contracts from the treasurer's office, has given $35,000.
Asked about the contributions, FNB spokesperson Jennifer Reel issued this statement:
“Our Political Action Committee, without deference to political party or relationships, routinely makes contributions to federal, state and local candidates across our footprint whom we believe support the overall community, including the business community.”
AECOM and CDM Smith did not respond to requests for comment.
Records show companies and their employees receiving contracts from the treasurer's office or Alcosan during Weinstein's tenure gave $268,285 to his campaigns over a 12-year period, 14 percent of his total donations.
Asked if he solicited contractors, Weinstein said, “No, I didn't solicit anyone. If people found out I had a fundraiser and they wanted to show up, they came. That was certainly up to them. I mean, that's how it works.”
Asked if the donations were part of a “pay to play” effort, Weinstein said, “Absolutely not. And in fact, that's insulting for someone to even make that kind of comment because everyone that knows me knows I don't do that. And every contract at Alcosan was voted on unanimously and recommended by staff.”
Because of his prolific fundraising, Weinstein has been airing television spots for weeks.
But Pittsburgh Controller Michael Lamb, who is also running for county executive, said the amount of contractor contributions raises troubling questions.
“It's just not a good look for Allegheny County. I mean, you can argue about the legality of it, but the fact is, the impression it creates for the citizens of this county is that contracts in Allegheny County are for sale,” Lamb said.
State law does not prevent elected officials from receiving campaign contributions from government contractors.
Lamb and candidates Dave Fawcett and Sara Innamorato have all called for campaign finance reform including limits or bans on donations from government contractors.
“I'm not against campaign finance reform. In fact, I'm for it. But let's do it across the board. Let's make sure that the governor, the state senators, the state legislature, everyone is treated equally,” Weinstein said.
Last week, Lamb and other candidates criticized Weinstein for tabling a proposal by County Executive Rich Fitzgerald that would ban campaign donations from pension fund money managers.
Weinstein said he was simply following the process of the county retirement board, which he chairs. He said federal law already limits those donations.