Overview:
• Council Member Mario Benavente and Mayor Mitch Colvin appeared at a candidates’ forum Thursday night
• Benavente brought up the $1,000 donation and asked about political influence
• Colvin said people donate ‘because they support what you are running on’
The owner of the construction company that abandoned several city construction projects in Fayetteville made a $1,000 donation to Mayor Mitch Colvin in August 2021, state election records show.
City Council Member Mario Benavente, who is one of nine candidates attempting to unseat Colvin in this year’s mayoral election, brought up the donation made by Mohammad Mohammad of Apex Contracting Group during a candidates’ forum on Thursday night. The forum, attended by about 130 people, was presented by Common Cause NC, Fayetteville Freedom For All, Democracy NC, and Common Defense.
“When we talk about Mohammad Mohammad and the three failed projects, I have to ask: What sort of political influence did he have to get so many projects here in our city when he didn’t even have his own bonding company set up straight?” Benavente said at the debate table.
Colvin took umbrage at Benavente’s comments. The mayor implied on Thursday and told CityView on Friday that he would take legal action against candidates who engage in defamation.
Mohammad is one of hundreds of people who have donated to Colvin’s campaigns over the years, Colvin said at the forum.
“I have fundraisers,” he said. “You have people who pay online. You have people who mail you checks because they support what you are running on, and they believe in what your campaign is.”
Colvin told Benavente that if he was indicating any other motive, “you’re going to have to deal with that” and “you will have to give an account for that.”
Colvin said that in the last election, “I allowed people to disparage my name and character” and “I’m not going to allow that this go round. Period.”
Benavente was unconcerned by Colvin’s threat to sue.
“Drake said the same thing to Kendrick Lamar. Please print that,” Benavente said, referencing a defamation lawsuit that hip-hop star Drake filed this year against the music label that represents fellow hip-hop star Lamar.
The year-end finance report for Colvin’s 2021 campaign says Mohammad’s $1,000 donation was among $90,405 in 98 contributions made to Colvin that year, and among 57 donations made on Aug. 3. Colvin said on Friday that one of the donors on Aug. 3 was Randy Gregory, who later became Benavente’s father-in-law.
Mohammad’s August 2021 donation was made five months before Mohammad incorporated Apex Contracting Group, according to records with the North Carolina Secretary of State Office. (He originally named the company Mohammad Construction, and changed the name to Apex in December 2023.)
Colvin told CityView that many local business people make donations to city council candidates, but the city’s procurement system and a state law requirement to hire the lowest responsible bidders shields the contracting process from political influence.
According to city and court records, the city council awarded four contracts totaling $7.9 million to Mohammad’s company in 2022 and 2023. The company abandoned them all:
- $1.2 million in June 2022 for sidewalk construction. The city said in September 2023 that Mohammad and the city mutually agreed to terminate their contract after the project was only 30% finished by its July 7 deadline.
- $3.87 million in June 2022 for a tennis center at Mazarick Park.
- $1.35 million in March 2023 to build tennis courts at the park.
- $1.47 million in April 2023 to build the Mable C. Smith Community Center.
The city hired other contractors to finish the projects and it sued Apex Contracting Group for not finishing the latter three projects. It also said Apex’s bonding agent (a company hired to pay the city should something go wrong with a construction project) was “a fictitious entity.”
The city won a $236,000 judgment against Apex and Mohammad over the summer. With lawyer fees and interest, as of Sept. 10 it totaled $266,560 and will continue to rise as interest accrues.
Mohammad could not be reached by CityView for comment on Friday. His phone’s voicemail was full and he did not reply to a text message.
Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.
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