Update: No-Bid Contractor Has Deep Ties to Ridge

In a Center for Public Integrity report published yesterday (March 16th), Mercyhurst officials said there were no personal or political connections between Ridge and the college. The director of the intelligence analysis program at Mercyhurst, Robert Heibel, went as far as to tell the Center: "We've always done it the old fashioned way. We've earned it."
Mercyhurst officials also told the Center that the college had an official policy of not releasing the names of its board of trustees to the public.
But further investigation by the Center has revealed that Marlene Mosco, who was installed as chairperson of the Mercyhurst College Board of Trustees last year, is one of Ridge's oldest and best friends, as well as one of his top political supporters.