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Detroit contracted poll workers from firm owned by key figure in ex-mayor’s corruption case
More than $1 million awarded to P.I.E. Management LLC, created by former Kwame Kilpatrick aide William A. Phillips.
By Seamus Bruner Updated: November 12, 2020 - 11:21pm
FTA
When the city of Detroit needed workers to staff its election center this fall, it turned to a familiar figure in city politics: lawyer and entrepreneur William A. Phillips, whose name a few years earlier appeared often in the corruption case of disgraced and still-imprisoned ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
On Sept. 22, the city council approved a $1 million contract for Phillips’ staffing firm P.I.E. Management, LLC to hire up to 2,000 workers to work the polls and staff the ballot counting machines. “They will provide up to 2,000 employees (Detroit Residents) the ability to operate election equipment on Election Day as poll workers under the MiDeal Cooperative Agreement with the State,” the city council boasted about P.I.E.
Dominion Voting Systems, which provides voting equipment and software for the city, also got fresh money that day for additional machines to count absentee ballots.
A week later, Phillips’ firm was advertising for Election Day workers, offering them a handsome sum for one day’s work and some training. “Candidates must be 16 years or older,” the firm’s advertisement read. “Candidates are required to attend a 3 hour training session before the General Election. The position offers two shifts and pay-rates: 1) From 7am to 7pm at $600.00; and 2) From 10pm to 6am at $650.”
For the advertised 8 or 12 hour shifts of work, the temporary employees were earning at least $50 per hour.
Outside Detroit, the arrangement was hardly noticed. But now, more than a week later, the city’s election center — and those who worked and observed there — are coming under increased scrutiny amidst allegations of irregularities.
