Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s top political donors received millions of dollars in city contracts during his time as the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, records show.
The former Democratic presidential hopeful is now poised to hand out billions of dollars of federal funding as part of President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure spending law.
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Buttigieg’s political fundraising committee received donations from nearly two dozen companies later awarded contracts with the city’s Board of Public Works, according to records reviewed by the Daily Mail.
Companies, their leaders, and spouses gave Buttigieg $253,750 and scored more than $33 million in city contracts between 2011 and 2019. Twice, the former mayor received donations on the same day that companies were awarded contracts.
Records show that an executive at American Structurepoint, Marlin Knowles, gave $1,500 to Buttigieg’s 2011 mayoral campaign.
After meeting with the company at his office in 2012, Buttigieg appointed an American Structurepoint executive to the South Bend Department of Public Works. The firm received a city contract one year later worth $25 million.
Between 2014 and early 2019, a senior executive at the firm gave more than $30,000 to Buttigieg’s campaigns. The Public Works Department gave the company more than $790,000 in city contracts during that time.
Another firm donated $14,150 to Buttigieg’s campaigns and received $885,030 in South Bend contracts.
The City of South Bend told the outlet that the procurement process was public and transparent.
Government ethics expert Jeff Hauser said Buttigieg could take steps to limit the appearance of corruption, such as by declining contributions from donors who received large Transportation Department contracts during his time atop the agency.
“There’s a perception in the United States that Washington, D.C., is the height of corruption,” said Jeff Hauser, who runs the Revolving Door Project at the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research. “The reality is that outside the glare of the national media and inquisitive nonprofits, state and municipal governments are often even more corrupt. That doesn’t mean Buttigieg or any other former municipal official was or is corrupt, but does underscore the need for scrutiny that doesn’t take as a given that a mayor was well-vetted by local media.”
Hauser continued, “In order to allay any concerns about quid pro quos, Buttigieg could announce that in any electoral contests he might compete in within the four years following his departure from public service, he will not accept contributions from any corporate official or PAC associated with a senior role at a firm that received contracts totaling $1 million or more while he was running the Transportation Department.”
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The transportation secretary is overseeing $210 billion in government funds earmarked in the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill.
Buttigieg has traveled across the country to promote the White House’s infrastructure agenda. Some visits have also drawn political buzz, including a stop in New Hampshire last year.
