- Carol Alvarado
- SEIU
Well, I hope that not everyone was thinking this was going to be earthshaking news or bust an investigation wide open, because it’s not; to some, I suspect it’s not even news. But it is funny and (embarassing in some quarters) to note that what they have in common is each other.
This just came to my attention a couple of days ago, and I finally got my scanner back online:
I suppose it’s just a humorous coincidence that half of their endorsements are involved to greater or lesser extent in the current Bonusgate investigation. Sue hasn’t had time to pass many bonuses out, after all.
On the other hand, the SEIU may consider it less humorous if it’s true that Alvarado herself is now under investigation. (Registration is required. I recommend this site.)
Term limits have changed the world of politics.
No one is around that long any more, council members, or their staff. They all come and go.
So somebody has to understand the process, the budgets and how to get the checks out.
That was the job of the four city of Houston employees in the Mayor Pro Tem’s office.
Oh, hell yeah! Thank you Dan Lauck! Somemone sees one of the problems with this system. We already had a term limiter, it was called the ballot box. Surprisingly, Answer.com had this former Wikipedia entry, which is now available only through the wayback machine:
Houston City Councilmember Carol Alvarado stated that term limits affect municipal government – one noted example is the capital improvement projects (CIP) which city council districts will draft for the upcoming fiscal year where the Houston City Controller finalizes the final draft before the city council votes unanimously. CIP budgets can be passed where the successor to an incumbent continues the work, or a new CIP is drafted all over again where the original plans are scrapped. At the same time, not too many elected officials within the City of Houston gain experience, and every two years, one has to campaign while running the everyday affairs of government.
It’s no longer on the Wikipedia website itself, having been replaced by a shorter, more geographically neutral, and to the point entry. I guess Google’s good for something besides helping to oppress Chinese, but who the heck was motivated to stick Ms. Alvarado’s name on Wikipedia, as if she were an authority on term limits–especially with so much local info (and jargon) that’s not directly relevant? That entry is very curious. Maybe Congresscritters aren’t the only ones trying to get a little exposure there….
But going back to the Channel 11 report, note this part:
Lee says this may have been the worst, but not the first, such abuse by staff members.
“A council senior aide wrote a memo to give herself a raise of $10,000,” Lee said. And it went through.
Now go back a couple of days, and take this comment by Florence Watkins, one of the Gang of Four:
Watkins said she is willing to cooperate with the investigation. “By the time this bird has finished singing, there’s going to be a lot of people (in trouble). They are going to look at a lot of people. We weren’t the only ones that got incentives,” Watkins said.
Although there’s a difference between getting incentives and getting incentives illegally, that’s starting to sound vaguely ominous. How many of these shenanigans haven’t been caught yet? And as “Cityworker” asked yesterday, what about all those bonuses that Brown and his cronies paid themselves just before leaving office? I’d kinda forgotten all about that myself. Since I never expected any better of them, I hadn’t gotten worked up over it, and was in a blogging slump at the time anyway. (Edit: I may be a little obtuse on that joke — this happened just before I started blogging.)
Update: KHOU had a brief piece this morning, showcasing the former office head’s feedback (summarized as “OMG, WTF!!! Alvarado’s oversight suxxors!”), and a fun clip of Ms. Orta running from the camera. The reporter can be heard on camera asking if someone diverted the amount she was “supposed” to get. Ms. Orta supposedly got $16,500, but told her friends she only got $5,000. I think a much more logical supposition is that she lied.