Sweetheart Deals

The invitation, by the Redevelopment and Housing authorities, drew broad interest: More than 200 people attended a briefing before the bidding, said Thomas M. Thompson, who until June 27 was director of the Department of Housing and Community Development.

The county awarded contracts for six of those properties, Thompson said. All six went to people with political, business or personal ties to Johnson, records show.

Among them were Richard Amatucci, a golfing friend of Johnson's, and William A. Youngblood, who had held political fundraisers for the county executive.

Youngblood has won four contracts from the county since 2003 to build condominiums and commercial space in Cheverly, townhouses in Lanham and single-family houses in Upper Marlboro and near National Harbor in Fort Washington, records show.

Thompson, who reported directly to Johnson and signed most of the contracts, defended the process. "I think we selected the best developers," he said. "I'm pretty proud of what we've done and the proposals we selected."

Thompson said his agencies used "a fair, open and competitive procurement process" that complied with federal and local laws. Johnson, who appoints most members of the Redevelopment and Housing authorities' boards, said that the proposals were evaluated by teams and that he had "no personal knowledge" of who served on them.

But county officials declined to release records on the bid competition, saying they were not public because they contained internal deliberations. The county also would not turn over many other documents on the land sales despite repeated requests filed since June 2007 by The Post under Maryland's public records law.

"I've never done anything that didn't follow the rules," Thompson said, adding that he was confident in his integrity. "I have no idea what he's [Johnson's] done."

Johnson fired Thompson last month. He declined to discuss his decision, saying it was a personnel matter. Thompson said in a phone message that he was fired for "professional and policy disagreements."

'They're Not Developers'

The proposals, according to the county's bid invitation, were to be ranked on five criteria, including minority representation.

"This did not guarantee work for any individual or company, but it did provide opportunities for minority-owned companies to participate," Johnson said.

One requirement was that bidders demonstrate they had planned, built and marketed comparable projects. But several of the winning bidders had little development experience.