A "controversial contractor and big contributor" to
Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith's political campaigns
"has a share" of the $3.7M contract to manage construction
of the city's new basketball arena, according to Kathleen
Johnston of the INDIANAPOLIS STAR-NEWS. OH-based minority
construction management firm Sherman R. Smoot Co. won the
contract "with the help of its attorney," former Deputy
Mayor Joseph Loftus. Loftus also acted as a city-paid
lobbyist to convince the state legislature to help finance
the arena. Loftus, on a potential conflict of interest:
"All I did was make a contact. ... I maintain (there was)
nothing inappropriate." Mayor Goldsmith said that he did
not play a role in connecting Smoot with construction
managers Huber, Hunt & Nichols (HHN), and called any
suggestion that Loftus had a conflict "way off base." HHN
President Mike Kerr said that he "was not pressured" to team
with Smoot, and that he joined with Smoot "because the
Goldsmith administration emphasized the need for significant
minority participation" in the project (STAR-NEWS, 7/17).
