Firm withdraws bid to continue Camden audit

After a 14-year run of serving as Camden's municipal auditor, Bowman & Co. L.L.P. has withdrawn its bid to conduct the city's 2013 audit.

The decision came last week after a series of articles by The Inquirer - questioning the timing of political contributions made by various Bowman partners to Camden Mayor Dana L. Redd and a related South Jersey Democratic political action committee - triggered an inquiry from the state Comptroller's Office and a request from the city for a contribution statement by Bowman.

Bowman was appointed as the auditor at the July 9 City Council meeting, despite not having signed a contribution statement as mandated by the city's pay-to-play ordinance. The sworn statement, which was not included in the city's municipal-auditor bid package, would affirm that Bowman had not made any contributions that violated the city's pay-to-play law.

A resolution formally approving Bowman's $186,000 contract was scheduled to be voted on at Thursday's Council meeting. Instead, a resolution will be presented rescinding the Bowman appointment.

In a letter dated Aug. 7 to City Attorney Marc Riondino, Bowman's attorney, John O'Reilly, said: "As you know, the [Business Entity Contribution Statement] was not part of the original [request for proposals]. ... Bowman's contributions outside the city of Camden would disqualify it in the aggregate amount under the ordinance."

Nine Bowman partners paid $250 each, totaling $2,250, for a Redd campaign fund-raiser held May 30, the same day the proposals for auditor were due to the city. About a week later, six Bowman partners donated $1,000 each to the Leaders Fund, a South Jersey Democratic PAC that helps elect local candidates.

The ordinance prohibits any entity seeking business with the city to donate to any city or county political campaigns between the business and city's "time of first communication" regarding a specific contract and the completion of the work.

City officials have said "first communication" starts when a firm turns in its proposal for a contract, which in Bowman's case would have been May 30. Some campaign finance reform advocates have argued that "first communication" could mean once a request for proposals is put out, which for this year's municipal auditor services was April 26.

Bowman's attorneys have said that the checks for the Redd fund-raiser were issued May 28. They also argue that the Leaders Fund donations do not disqualify the company from performing Camden's audit because the fund does not "regularly" donate to Camden candidates.

On Wednesday, a Bowman spokeswoman said the company withdrew its bid for the Camden auditing contract because unreported donations to two political action committees - the New Jersey Association of Public Accountants and the Registered Municipal Accountants of New Jersey - would exceed the aggregate donation limit under the city's ordinance, and therefore disqualify it from entering into a contract with the city.

A review of campaign finance reports filed by those two committees in the last year do not indicate that donations were made to Camden candidates.

"It's only [a violation] if those PACs in turn donate to Camden city or county candidates or parties," said Heather Taylor, spokeswoman for the Citizen's Campaign, a state watchdog group that drafted the state's model local ordinance on pay-to-play.

The city is weighing what to do next on the auditor's selection, city spokesman Robert Corrales said.

The only other auditing firm that submitted a bid - Holman Frenia Allison P.C. of Medford - is no longer eligible, city officials said, because the firm was granted a $50,000 forensic auditing contract in May.

The Hamilton, N.J. auditing firm Mercadien P.C., which has previously placed bids to perform the city's audit, is also ineligible because it won the contract to perform the city's annual financial statement.

Mercadien also raised some questions from campaign-finance reform advocates because of its May 30 donations to the Redd campaign, a week before it placed its bid. On June 11, Council awarded the annual financial statement contract to Mercadien for $30,000.

Both Bowman and Mercadien have denied any wrongdoing and said they followed all contract and campaign contribution laws.

"Our withdrawal from the City of Camden RFP process only highlights our strict adherence to the complexities and technicalities of regulations and laws concerning public work," Bowman spokeswoman Sarah Lindsay said in a statement Wednesday. "The city ordinance, which is now being applied to the auditor RFP, includes restrictions on contributions made outside the city of Camden. This technicality resulted in our voluntary withdrawal."

City attorneys previously said the city's ordinance didn't apply to the auditor selection, including obtaining sworn statements from bidders, because the city used a "fair and open process," meaning the bids were publicly advertised.

Both the state Comptroller's Office and Citizen's Campaign have rebutted the argument. It was only on Aug. 2 that the city asked Bowman to sign the sworn statement, after receiving an inquiry from the Comptroller's Office.

In its Aug. 7 response to the Comptroller's Office inquiry and Bowman's withdrawal, Riondino stressed the importance of choosing an auditing firm quickly.

"Time is of the essence as the period of audit is for the city's fiscal year ended June 30. ... Thus, the auditing work needs to commence as soon as possible, especially if a service provider entirely new to the city's financial systems, records, and personnel needs to become familiar and knowledgeable of same."

Bowman began auditing Camden's books in 1998, according to city records.