Concerns over payments to former Pittsburgh city employee referred to Office of Municipal Investigations
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The Gainey administration has denied the city's controller's demand for information about payments to a former employee accused of terrorizing a Jewish woman on the North Side.
Controller Rachael Heisler set Friday as a deadline for material concerning the employment history and payments to Mario Ashkar, who was fired from the city two years ago, only to be brought back as a contractor.
Rachael Heisler is seeking answers to two questions: Why was a former city employee now accused of an antisemitic act initially fired for poor performance only to be brought back five months later as a contractor to do the same kind of work? And why was he then paid under the city's p-card system, getting monthly payments through PayPal instead of city checks?
This week, Heisler gave the Gainey administration a strict deadline to come up with documents containing those answers. But that deadline passed Friday morning without delivery of the material.
Citing the confidentiality of personnel records, the mayor's office issued a statement saying it would instead refer the entire matter to the city's internal 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," the mayor's office said in a statement.
In response, Heisler issued her own statement, expressing disappointment and saying the matter is fully within the scope of her office. She vowed not to be deterred. "We will continue to pursue the materials we need to complete our audit through alternate means," she said.
Heisler said if the city was not forthcoming, she would file a right-to-know request for the information. KDKA Investigates has already filed a similar request for internal communications around Ashkar's employment.
