But one expert in government ethics said the city school board ought to hold “due diligence” meetings with other companies, similar to the session with Maureen Davis, if it plans to move ahead and take bids on the textbooks financing plan. Holding meetings with other companies would help dispel suspicions that the contracting process was tainted in any way, said the expert, Marc Pfeiffer, assistant director of the Bloustein Local Government Research Center at Rutgers University.
Pfeiffer also said it was important that Robert Davis disclosed his family relationship and said he would recuse himself before his daughter’s meeting with the Paterson school board members.