Councilman Asks For Internal Probe Of Kaiser Permanente Contract

City Councilman Ryan Dorsey is asking the city's internal watchdog to investigate the bidding and awarding of a contract to a health insurer that purchased books from Mayor Catherine Pugh's LLC.

Pugh went on an indefinite leave of absence Tuesday, citing her recovery from pneumonia but amid increasing scrutiny of her sales of "Healthy Holly" children's books through her LLC.

I have requested an investigation and information regarding Kaiser Permanente’s contract with the City.



We deserve to know that our contracts are the best they can be, and that if anything untoward were to come to light that families will not lose health coverage. pic.twitter.com/kVP5yRFNVM — Ryan Dorsey (@ElectRyanDorsey) April 2, 2019

In letters to Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming and human resources director Quinton Herbert, he also asked that Herbert provide information on how city employees currently insured by Kaiser Permanente would be affected if the $48 million contract is suspended or terminated by the Board of Estimates.

On Monday, Kaiser said it purchased around 20,000 books from Healthy Holly LLC in multiple orders from 2015 to 2018, at a total cost of $114,000. Pugh voted to approve the city's contract with them in 2017. The books were subsequently distributed for free to children, families and adults, the insurer said.

Dorsey has already called for Pugh's resignation. In tweets on Monday, he called Pugh an "embarrassment to the city" and accused her of using the office for leverage while negotiating the terms of her exit.

One other thing.



Pretty sure this leave of absence is only to allow Mayor Pugh use holding office as leverage while negotiating resignation terms.



Not resigning immediately is use of the office in a hostage manner. Still self-serving. It’s disgusting. https://t.co/UdEK8cteDh — Ryan Dorsey (@ElectRyanDorsey) April 2, 2019