Pittsburgh controller raises questions about $18,000 payment to former city employee
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Pittsburgh City Council on Wednesday refused to authorize a final payment to a former city employee accused in connection with a series of antisemitic incidents on the North Side.
Pittsburgh Controller Rachael Heisler this week raised alarms about payments to Mario Ashkar, who until his arrest had been working as a consultant to the Department of Parks and Recreation. KDKA Investigates confirmed Ashkar was fired from the Public Safety Department in December 2022 but then hired to provide support services to the Department of Parks and Recreation five months later.
Police arrested and charged Ashkar on April 23 in connection with a series of antisemitic incidents culminating in the painting of a slogan from Nazi Germany on a sidewalk in the Mexican War Streets in front of a Jewish woman's home.
It was Heisler who found Askar to be a former city employee being improperly paid as a consultant to the Department of Parks and Recreation through the city's p-card, or credit card, system.
The city says it paid him $18,000 over the past year for helping organize the farmers markets, but on Wednesday council declined to make the final payment of $1,200 after Heisler said she could find no documentation of work performed.
"It appears in the initial paperwork that there was no application submitted to do this contracting work," Heisler said. "I can't find a formal job description. I haven't seen anything with hours. So, we'd like to uncover how this came to be."
The Gainey administration on Tuesday conceded the payments violated procedures and Ashkar should have been given a professional services contract. Maria Montaño, the mayor's communications director, said the city is reviewing p-card procedures and disciplining the employees involved.
"We are working to make sure that this doesn't happen and let residents know that we take these issues seriously," Montaño said.
But Heisler is digging deeper into why if the city fired Ashkar in December 2022 did it hire him as a contractor five months later. Sources told KDKA-TV that Ashkar was fired as a special events coordinator with the Public Safety Department for poor perfformance, absenteeism and other issues.
According to his Facebook page, Ashkar performs as a drag queen under the name Princess Jafar and the same sources say one reason for his firing was that he staged a personal photo shoot for his drag persona in the City-County Building when he was supposed to be at work.
City Councilman Bob Charland said while he has no issue with people being a drag performer on their own time, "When you're being paid by the city, you need to be working for the city."
Initially, Ashkar submitted an invoice and was paid by a city check, but for reasons not yet explained, all subsequent payments are made through PayPal to the account of his drag persona.
"Determining why they went from the traditional departmental invoice to PayPal is a huge, huge issue and that needs to be uncovered and there needs to be a robust explanation," Heisler said.
Heisler also wants to know what discussions, if any, the Gainey administration officials had about bringing Ashkar back.
"I'd like to see all paperwork that was submitted," Heisler said. "Invoices, copies of emails going back and forth."
Heisler is demanding Ashkar's employment records and all internal communications from the Gainey administration to explain the payments and how Ashkar could be hired as a contractor after being fired for not doing his job. She's demanding answers by 10 a.m. Friday.
Sheehan: "All these things say he wasn't a good employee and yet he's welcomed with open arms to the parks department five months later. Why?"
Heisler: "Those allegations are very concerning. I again haven't seen a copy of the file surrounding his employment with the city of Pittsburgh. I would agree someone with that track record would not make a good contractor to do similar city work."
Montaño defended the rehiring of Ashkar as a contractor. She said the fact that Ashkar did not perform well in one position did not mean he would not do well in another role.
As for Heisler's request for employment information, Montaño said the city would not be complying. Montano said the city is prohibited from disclosing personnel records regarding employees and their work history.
Office of the Mayor issues statement
On Friday morning, the Office of Mayor Ed Gainey issued a statement on the recent P-card transactions.
"As public servants, we have a responsibility to handle records regarding personnel matters in accordance with city policy, state, and federal laws. This is especially true if those records are going to be part of any type of investigation. Over the past several days, Controller Heisler has made several public statements regarding potential investigations, as well as information regarding personnel related matters," the statement read.
"We appreciate that she has notified us of this, and her eagerness to ensure the validity of this P-card transaction. However, the proper step would be to refer this matter to the Office of Municipal Investigations. They have the policies, legal authority, and experience managing confidential personnel records. Therefore, in order to ensure that this never happens again, the Office of the Mayor will be referring this matter to the Office of Municipal Investigations and will cooperate fully with the investigation. We look forward to being as transparent and as cooperative as we can be in this process. At this time the City has no further comment pending the completion of the investigation."