By jonetta rose barras Examiner Columnist
Sinclair Skinner, owner of Liberty Engineering and Design, has a memory worse than my 87-year-old aunt. What the amnesiac did remember during his appearance before a D.C. Council committee was disturbing, and justifies banning his company from doing business with the city.
A friend and fraternity brother of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (FBOF), Skinner injudiciously used the “I-don’t-recall” mantra during his testimony in the council’s continuing probe into the executive’s transfer of more than $80 million from the Department of Parks and Recreation’s capital budget to the D.C. Housing Authority.
That money was used to contract with Banneker Ventures/Regan Associates to manage recreation construction projects. The housing agency didn’t forward that multimillion-dollar agreement to the council as required by law. Omar Karim, another FBOF, who owns Banneker, had previously testified, along with executives from Regan Associates, providing details of their involvement.
But Skinner, a subcontractor, delayed his appearance until compelled by court order.
His comments made clear his reasons for hesitancy. For example, he revealed that he charged Banneker $45,000 per site survey — although he lacked an engineer’s license to perform the work. He subsequently hired other firms from Virginia and Maryland to satisfy the contract, paying each about $8,000 per job.
That meant Skinner pocketed $37,000 per job for doing nothing.
“When you see unethical and unconscionable price gouging, there has to be consequences,” Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray told me this week. “Debarment is appropriate,” Gray said.
Skinner argued that his contract was with Banneker — not the city. The markups were between them; the District wasn’t harmed. Nothing was wrong.
But it doesn’t matter who drank first or second. The milk came from the same teat: the government.
Still, Skinner’s lawyer, A. Scott Bolden of Reed Smith, told me this week: “There was nothing illegal, inappropriate or unethical. You may not like that. But that is the art of the deal. It’s perfectly acceptable by government contract standards.”
Bilking the public is never acceptable. It’s always unethical, and demands punishment.
David Gragan, the city’s chief procurement officer, attempted to penalize Skinner. Sources told me that on March 18 Skinner’s company was banned from city contracting. “On March 19 [Attorney General Peter] Nickles made OCP take it back,” a source said.
That’s outrageous, but not surprising. In 2008, in a similar case involving recreation projects, Inspector General Charles Willoughby recommended the city collect $2 million in overpayments made to Jair Lynch Consulting/Alpha Corp. and the Temple Group. Nickles didn’t implement that recommendation.
What does he care? It’s not his money.
Skinner isn’t the only villain. Government employees, including Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Valerie Santos, also should be held accountable for approving the invoices submitted by Banneker from Skinner’s company.
I won’t hold my breath for that.
The attorney general’s intervention, preventing Skinner’s debarment, means Fenty doesn’t recognize the need to jettison the hustler from his inner circle. What’s more, it tells future contractors it’s OK to rip off the government — especially if you’re a FBOF.
Jonetta Rose Barras can be reached at [email protected].
