BALTIMORE _ Health provider Kaiser Permanente paid Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh more than $100,000 to buy about 20,000 copies of her "Healthy Holly" children's books during a period when the company was seeking a lucrative contract to provide health benefits to city employees.
Kaiser confirmed Monday to The Baltimore Sun that it paid approximately $114,000 for the books in multiple orders from 2015 to 2018.
Pugh became mayor in December 2016. In September 2017, the city's spending board, which Pugh sits on and controls, awarded the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States Inc. a $48 million contract to provide health insurance to city employees from 2018 through 2020, with options to renew.
Kaiser issued two written statements to The Sun but did not respond to questions about buying books from the mayor as it sought business with the city.
"Since 2015, Kaiser Permanente has purchased and distributed Healthy Holly, among other books, to families and children throughout Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia," the company said in a statement to The Sun. "We have purchased and distributed about 20,000 Healthy Holly books, at a cost of approximately $114,000."
In her Baltimore City ethics disclosures, Pugh reported ownership of Healthy Holly LLC in 2016 and 2017 and reported receiving income from Healthy Holly in 2017. Under city ethics rules, she was not required to report the source of her company's income.
Kaiser has had contracts with the city since 2008. The contract it sought and won in 2017 was one it had previously held.
Additionally, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, another health provider to the city, bought "Healthy Holly" books for $14,500 in 2011 and 2014, The Sun also has confirmed. CareFirst bought the books from Associated Black Charities, a nonprofit organization, not from Pugh directly.
Neither Pugh nor Steven D. Silverman, her attorney, could immediately be reached for comment Monday.
The book sales to Kaiser come on top of Pugh's book sales to the University of Maryland Medical System while she was on the board there, which were revealed by The Sun last month. The news has caused a political firestorm around the mayor and other members of the UMMS board regarding the self-dealing, as well as calls for reform.
Pugh received $500,000 to print 100,000 copies of her books from UMMS during a time when she was a state senator and then mayor. She has provided documentation outlining the printing of about 60,000 copies of her first three books. She acknowledged last week that she is only now delivering to Baltimore schools 20,000 books for which she was paid $100,000 in 2017. She also has returned to UMMS $100,000 intended for a fifth book.
The printer and Pugh provided receipts showing the vast majority of the approximately 60,000 printed copies were shipped to the city school system, which Pugh has said was the intended recipient of the books. The schools system has acknowledged receipt of some books but has been unable to account for them all. It said 8,700 copies are sitting in a warehouse in the city. It called the shipments "unsolicited."
The latest revelations about still more sales of her books, and with entities that do business with the city during her time as mayor, further complicate a turbulent episode for Pugh, who has resigned from her seat on the UMMS board.
She has declined to release financial records for Healthy Holly LLC or her own tax records.
After first referring to questions about her book deals by calling them a "witch hunt," Pugh on Thursday held a news conference in which she apologized for the deals.
"In hindsight, this arrangement with the University of Maryland Medical System was a regrettable mistake," Pugh said at City Hall. "I am deeply sorry for any lack of confidence or disappointment that this initiative may have caused among Baltimore city residents, friends and colleagues."
It is unclear whether the books that went to Kaiser represented an additional printing of "Healthy Holly" books, or reflected a resale of books already paid for by UMMS. Pugh has acknowledged sales of her book only to UMMS. The firm she has identified as her printer has said it has produced only the 60,000 copies and has no more orders from Pugh.
In addition to the Kaiser purchases, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield confirmed to The Sun that it has purchased "Healthy Holly" books.
CareFirst paid $7,000 to Associated Black Charities of Maryland in 2011 to "support the purchase and distribution of books on healthy eating and exercise as part of childhood obesity prevention efforts," it said.
It paid an additional $7,500 to Associated Black Charities for the purchase and distribution of books in 2014, it said.
It was not immediately clear how Associated Black Charities obtained the books.
Diane Bell McKoy, the CEO of Associated Black Charities, was unavailable to comment Monday, according to an assistant.
Associated Black Charities has an agreement with the city to manage the $13 million taxpayer-funded Children and Youth Fund. The nonprofit is being paid $1.2 million this year to manage the fund.
