Inquiry launched into State Office Building sale
State auditor general claims taxpayers being 'ripped off'
Thursday, March 26, 2009
By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The end of the article pretty much says it all.
Despite Mr. Wagner's complaints about a fire sale, Mr. Piatt said Millcraft is paying $100,000 more for the building than another developer, the Buncher Co., offered last year when the economy was still good. Buncher pulled out of the deal earlier this year.
Mr. Piatt and his father, Millcraft Chairman Jack Piatt, have contributed $221,000 to the campaigns of Gov. Ed Rendell since 2002. But Lucas Piatt and state officials insisted the contributions had nothing to do with the sale, saying it was the result of a competitive bidding process.
"There's never a quid pro quo, you scratch my back, we'll scratch yours," Lucas Piatt said. "To even assume we're a pay-to-play type company is asinine in my mind."
The State Office Building has an assessed value of $14.9 million but Mr. Creedon argued the market itself dictated the $4.6 million selling price through the state's competitive process.
Reminds me of the Security Savings/KNBT mess down in Hazleton with the Luzerne County Commissioners Skrep and Vonderheid.
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