(Ahem) Cost-Cutting Mayor Phil Gordon Doles Out Nearly $100K in Taxpayer Money For Media Relations Detail

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon's been screeching about the importance of pinching the city's pennies, which would be encouraging for the cash-strapped metropolis if the mayor hadn't just hired a pricey PR firm to handle his media relations detail.

Last week, the City Council approved a contract for PR honcho David Leibowitz for about $98,000 a year. Today, it was revealed that the contract was awarded without any competitive bidding -- the normal process for contracts awarded by the city.

Check out the explanation Leibowitz gave Fox10 after the jump. 

As Fox10 points out in its accompanying print story, the salaries for the city's dozen or so public-information officers range between $53,000 and $80,000 a year. That means the highest-paid PIO for the city is making $20,000 less than Leibowitz, who, as you can see in the video, isn't even a full-time city employee.

In case you forgot, Gordon's the same guy who, earlier this year, backed a new 2 percent tax on basic grocery items like milk, meat, vegetables, and all the other basics that people need to live, to help bridge the city's then-$240 million budget gap. It was approved by the City Council in February, but Gordon has continued to stress the importance of cutting costs within city government, which apparently applies to everyone but him.

Check out the entire Fox10 story here.