EXCLUSIVE: Pete Buttigieg accepted $250,000 and gifts from mayoral campaign donors who were later awarded $33million in city contracts, raising concerns of ‘pay to play’ as Transportation Secretary doles out $210billion in infrastructure plan
Documents obtained by DailyMail.com reveal former South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg’s campaign took a total of $253,750 from 23 companies
Company executives were then awarded a combined $33,310,426 in city contracts from the Board of Public Works whose members Buttigieg appointed
Buttigieg, 40 – now the US Transportation Secretary – will oversee $210billion in discretionary grants under the new bipartisan infrastructure bill
But government watchdogs say the Democrat’s pattern of donations and contracts as mayor could present the appearance of a ‘pay to play’ scandal
‘This is alarming, and very concerning, because this is the swamp personified,’ Taxpayers Protection Alliance president David Williams told DailyMail.com
Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg’s top political donors received millions of dollars in city contracts after giving thousands to his campaigns while he was mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
Buttigieg’s political action committees took money from 23 companies who then got jobs from South Bend’s Board of Public Works whose members he appointed, documents obtained by DailyMail.com reveal.
On two occasions, the former presidential candidate received donations the same day the companies were awarded contracts.
Other city contractors gifted the mayor cigars, alcohol and golf trips worth hundreds of dollars.
The companies, their executives and spouses donated a total $253,750 to Buttigieg’s campaigns, and received a total of at least $33,310,426 in city contracts between 2011 and 2019.
