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Resource ID: #27294
Subject: Financial Investigations
Source: Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.)
Affiliation: 
Date: 2024-12-13

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Description

On July 2, FBI agents raided Allentown City Hall, looking for documents connected with a host of businesses and other entities that received city contracts. It was clear that agents suspected a pay-to-play scheme had been in the works for several years. The first thing The Morning Call's city hall reporter, Emily Opilo, did was cancel her plans for the Fourth of July holiday, since she knew this story needed her complete attention. For the next six months, Opilo - along with reporters Scott Kraus, Matt Assad and Paul Muschick - scrutinized each entity on the FBI's subpoena list. Going contractor by contractor, they used the state's Right-to-Know Law to gather bid sheets, requests for proposals, meeting notes and contracts. Using state and federal campaign finance reports, they matched each contractor against contributions made to Allentown's mayor when he ran for re-election in 2013, for governor in 2014 and for U.S. Senate in 2015. In each case, contractors also were donors. Often, those that didn't get contracts were found not to have donated to the mayor's campaigns.

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