MP&F Controversy Turns Toward Lobbying in Council Hearing

The fallout from an over-budget PR contract took a turn toward ethics Monday night. Even though McNeely Pigott & Fox resigned from managing communications for a new downtown convention center Monday, the partners faced grilling by members of the Metro Council over whether they lobbied for votes to pass legislation related to the project.

Most council members recognized publicly that the PR firm was merely doing what it was asked to do by the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency. MDHA has been in charge of all pre-development work until now.

When East Nashville Councilman Mike Jameson asked if the PR firm ever lobbied the council, Mike Pigott said no. Then Jameson read from a list of invoices.

JAMESON: “Well let’s try another one. March 24th 2009, meeting with lobbyists in mayor’s office.”

PIGOTT: “Same thing. We had regular meetings with lobbyists, asked them what information people were asking for they weren’t getting, things they needed clarification on and we would answer them.”

JAMESON: “In conjunction with the mayor’s office, literally in the mayor’s office?”

PIGOTT: “Literally in the mayor’s office, yes.”

Jameson says he’s concerned that the meetings were meant to build a strategy for lobbying the Metro Council. The body has approved the purchase of the property for a new downtown convention center. But the bonds to pay for the more than $600 million project won’t come before the council until at least year’s end.

Also Monday, Mayor Karl Dean ordered a third-party audit of all the invoices from McNeely Pigott & Fox. They totaled more than $458,000 on what was initially a $75,000 contract.