LEHIGH VALLEY MORNING CALL: An assistant Allentown solicitor was carrying out instructions of an official matching Mayor Ed Pawlowski’s description when he conspired to rescore a city contract in favor of a mayoral campaign donor, according to court documents released Monday when Dale Wiles pleaded guilty to a federal fraud charge.
The charge, conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, is the second to be filed in an ongoing FBI investigation in Allentown and the first against a city employee, who was terminated in early November. Separately, in a parallel investigation, the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania also announced Monday that Eron Lloyd, a special assistant to Reading Mayor Vaughn Spencer, pleaded guilty in a scheme to help Spencer receive campaign contributions.
In the Allentown case, court documents state that Wiles conspired to award the city’s delinquent tax collection contract, initially scored in favor of another bidder, to a partnership of two firms — both with principals who were donors to a man known as Public Official No. 3… (more)
EDITOR: Since there is scant competition for political office in the City and County, we don’t have to worry about officials being dishonest. It is the people controlling the media who pull their strings.
