Tallahassee Reports has learned that City of Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum made an official visit to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on January 30th, 2015 to meet with Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto.
The meeting lasted for 30 minutes.
Mayor Peduto’s schedule for January 30 is shown below. Click on image to enlarge.
Tallahassee Reports spoke with Mayor Peduto’s communications manager, Timothy McNulty, who confirmed the 30 minute meeting which he characterized as a “meet and greet.”
When asked if the meeting was scheduled for a specific reason or issue, Mr. McNulty said “not that I am aware of.”
Tallahassee Reports reviewed the City Commission meetings following the trip to Pittsburgh on January 30, 2015 and found no mention of the meeting by Mayor Andrew Gillum.
Also, Tallahassee Reports could find no mention of the meeting in local media, on any of the City of Tallahassee’s social media platform’s or on any social media platforms used by Mayor Gillum.
Gillum, who has previously traveled to Washington D.C and Charleston S.C., has mentioned the purpose of those meetings in the local media and during City Commission meetings.
An aide in Mayor Gillum’s office confirmed the meeting in Pittsburgh and said that the Mayor’s Chief of Staff, Dustin Daniels, was also on the trip.
Mr. Daniels declined to talk with Tallahassee Reports about the trip, but through an aide, said the meeting covered children’s issues.
Did the citizens of Tallahassee pay for Mayor Andrew Gillum and his Chief of Staff to fly to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for a 30 minute meeting with the Mayor of Pittsburgh?
The Mayor’s office did say the trip was official business. Tallahassee Reports has requested all travel expenses for the Mayor and City Commissioners since November 1, 2014 will report the information when the public reords request is completed.
Also, Tallahassee Reports, late today, has confirmed through various social media platforms that three other people joined the Mayor and his Chief of Staff in Pittsburgh for what appears to have been a one or two night visit.
Shown below is a photo from the Instagram account of Adam Corey, former treasurer of Gillum’s Mayoral campaign and current developer and partner with the City on the Edison project in Cascades Park.
Click on image to enlarge.
The pictures caption reads in part “Pittsburgh is a great City but the weather gets very cold…”
From left to right is Dustin Daniels-Gillum’s Chief of Staff, Mayor Gillum, an unidentified traveler, Adam Corey, and Sean Pittman.
Mr. Pittman is the City lobbyist and played a major role in Gillum’s Mayoral campaign.
What were these people doing in Pittsburgh with Mayor Gillum? Was it official City business? Who paid for the trip?
These are all questions that Tallahassee Reports will seek answers to in the coming days.
Mayor Gillum’s Pittsburgh Trip Raises Questions added by Staff on
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You can blame Scott Maddox for making the mayor an elected position when he thought his political star was rising back in the early 90s.
As usual, Preston is correct. The only change to his comment that I would suggest is to refer to Mr. Gilliam as the most recently elected mayor. He had Mr. Marks as his mentor and the ghost of him remains in Mayor Gilliam. Not a good outcome for Tallahassee.
We should listen to Preston Scott and the things that the Tallahassee reports reveals. This is literally sick that Mayer Gilliam feels he can pull an Obama and sidestep truth,transparency and processes that are “suppose to be central” to elective office.
It is arrogance of the worst kind.
I asked someone if they saw American Sniper akd her reply was shocking, “I would not dare go see a Republican propaganda movie like that”.
It is sad.
Thank you Preston and Steve.
Preston, as far as Gillum not answering tough questions, he is merely following the ‘Obama Way’.
Brad, yes foolish voters.
Tallahassee is in trouble.
What did you think was going to happen? Business as usual for the COT. What foolish voters!
Policticians continue to push and tug at the limits of what they think they can get away with. Hold this man to the fire when he does not wish to answer questions. This only represents a red flag to me. So please dig deeper to get to the bottom of it. Sooner or later he will see the error of his ways by not being up front and answering questions as the truth emerges.
It’s disappointing how easily our elected officials become the problem instead of the solution.
A couple of thoughts: This is exactly what I warned everyone of, at least those who listens to my radio program, before Gillum was elected. He would not answer questions and he doing the same in office. He will not talk to anyone who dares ask tough questions. Second, City Commissioners are now the only real line of defense. You need to demand that they reel in the new Mayor. Gillum is determined to push the agenda of People for the American Way, an organization that even makes many Democrats nervous.
The mayor is the head of Young Elected Officials Network, what the Network calls progressive, some would call Marxist. This is a dangerous man, dangerous to our way of life and as it appears at least on the surface, unawares of ethics. Preston, it is the same old, same old. Instead of white corrupt machine politicos we now have black corrupt machine politicos. Unfortunately for our black citizens, they will find out the hard way that having elected a black politician will not better their lives, maybe even worsen it.
Why would anyone want to go TO Pittsburgh FROM Florida in January. Sounds fishy to me.
You post that Pittman is a “city lobbyist”.
Would you elaborate on that please? Who does he lobby and how is he paid for that work?
I believe Mr. Pittman has a contract (sweetheart deal) paid by the city (taxpayers) to lobby with state government for the City of Tallahassee. I heard one of his presentations to the city and it was a pathetic display of nothing about nothing. More tax dollars wasted…
Elected officials do not have the luxury of declining to answer questions from the media. When they think they can do so, we are all harmed. One thing is certain, when they have nothing to hide, they always cooperate. Elected officials who feel the need to hide require close monitoring. I hope TR will ride close herd on any elected official who acts in such a manner.