Following is the text of the apolgoy delivered by councilmember and Mayor pro tem Carol Alvarado in today’s City Council meeting, thanks to KTRK.

“Mayor and colleagues, I would like to take a brief moment to comment on the recent events in the Mayor Pro Tem Office.

Serving as Mayor Pro Tem is an honor and a privilege that I assure you, I do not take lightly. I would never do anything to jeopardize the integrity of this position or to compromise the essential services the office provides. Like everyone here, I was shocked at the reports of payroll irregularities.

I want to apologize for any disruptions this investigation may have caused in how we conduct the business of this council. We have re-staffed the Mayor Pro-Tem office and we are doing our best to continue to operate with minimal distractions.

I also want to reiterate that I fully support the OIG’s investigation. Like everyone else, I am eager to determine what really happened. We still don’t have all the information and shouldn’t speculate until the investigation is complete and we have all the facts.

I have been astonished and disappointed to discover how easy it was for someone — to forge my initials and steal both the taxpayers’ dollars and my personal reputation at the same time

As you can all imagine, the events of the past week have been a test of my spirit. I have had to deal with rumor, innuendo, and outright distortion of fact that I would never wish upon anyone, although, sadly, it could happen to you.

In this age of identity theft, we are all vulnerable and as public officials, we are perhaps even more at risk — dependent and trusting of our staff to help us get through every packed calendar day. Forgery is criminal and a form of identity theft that I hope none of you should ever have to endure.

I look forward to getting to the bottom of this situation, moving forward, and making sure it never happens again. Unfortunately, we have a process that is flawed. We need to review the procedures that have been in place and make the needed changes to implement foolproof systems and prevent future irregularities.

We also need to review oversight systems at every level so that no city employee is able to get away with this type of illegal activity over a prolonged period of time.

Thank you”

Ok, I read through it all, and I while I could fisk and snark my way through the whole steaming pile (this really belongs over at TBIFOC), I am just going to point out one thing and let it be.

Carol Alvarado apologized to her colleagues on the council. She did not apologize to the hard-working employees of the City of Houston, whose reputations she allowed her staff to tarnish, and she sure as hell didn’t apologize to her constituents in District I, or the rest of the taxpaying citizens of Houston, whom she has let down.

‘Nuff said.