Was Philadelphia Airport Deal Even Necessary?

Public relations specialist Lana Felton Ghee says city records dramatically overstate the money her firm made at the Philadelphia airport.

But her explanation raises another question: Does she perform any needed function under the deal?

As Felton-Ghee explained her work in a recent interview, much of what her firm did to earn $87,000 as a subcontractor for the Parkway Corp. is processing payments to airport vendors that others have to process anyway.

In effect, it appears, another step in the payment process was added to give Felton-Ghee a 10 percent fee.

Soon after the Street administration took office, the airport awarded Parkway Corp. a contract to provide public information services. Over the last four years, Parkway has used Felton-Ghee's firms to provide printing services for airport brochures and other material.

At least that's what it says on paper.

But Felton-Ghee explained that usually, the airport finds printers and other vendors, gives them orders, receives the goods - and simply gives her the bills to pay.

Her firm then bills Parkway Corp for the cost plus a 10 administrative fee, which Parkway recovers from the airport, she said.

Felton-Ghee illustrated the process by showing a reporter a stack of airport invoices she handled.

"I don't order the goods. I have no idea what these things were. I don't know why they ordered them. What I do is pay the bill," Felton-Ghee said. "I pay the bills then I show the copy of my checks and I increase it by 10 percent."

The invoices Felton-Ghee said she received from the airport were accompanied by a transmittal letter from airport public relations director Mark Pesce.

"Please process these 11 invoices through the Parkway contract and add your 10 percent administrative fee," Pesce's letter said.

Felton-Ghee noted that she has had to find vendors for airport needs on a few occasions, and that she does special events planning for airport on another contract.

And she said that even under the bill-processing arrangement with Parkway, her company performs real work. She has a person do the paperwork and prepare the checks, and she has to advance thousands of dollars until she gets paid.

But when asked it wouldn't be more efficient for Parkway or the airport to simply pay the bills themselves, Felton-Ghee said, "Yes, that's a good question."

"You should know this is not new," Felton-Ghee said. "As I understand it, this was started under Mayor Ed Rendell to address matters at the airport of minority participation and small business participation."

The previous airport director and public information vendor said they knew of no such understanding.

Responding to the Daily News with a written statement, Pesce did not directly answer a question about whether Felton Ghee performed any needed function in the bill-paying arrangement.

His statement quoted the Parkway contract as involving Felton-Ghee's firm in selecting printing vendors and supervising their work, adding "The airport considers this contract to be an economic and service delivery success story as well as a model for meaningful and substantial minority participation," Pesce wrote.