The dumbest power grab has to be Governor Perry’s. I can sort of understand it; anything that’s going to involve a lot of state committment, he wants control of. But to turn over total authority for calling evacuations to bureaucrats who are not from and have no experience in coastal conditions is rank stupidity. Continue reading →

I heard it on the radio this morning but only now had the chance to find an online source: Metro has let $40 million in contracts for the new light rail expansion– even though it doesn’t know where the rail’s going to go yet.

Supposedly, anyway.

Plans for a light rail line at the center of a debate over its route — whether it should run on Richmond or Westpark, or both — began to take shape Thursday with the approval of nearly $40 million in contracts.

The firms and their corridors are: Dannenbaum Engineering (North), Huitt-Zollars Inc. (Uptown), LAN (Southeast), Omega Engineers Inc. (Harrisburg) and TCB Transit (University).

The board also awarded a $3 million contract to prepare an environmental impact study for the University line to Carter & Burgess Inc. The study and findings , which will include a recommended route, are required by federal funding rules.

The allocation of any money to study a Richmond route is a waste, but a firm indicator that the Metro board intends to run roughshod over the wishes of Richmond Ave. businesses and residences, not to mention a public referendum that approved sending the tracks down Westpark.

Further, the nature (and resolve) of the Metro board is quite obvious from the unanimity of the votes:

Board member Rafael Ortega abstained from votes on both the environmental and engineering contracts, as well as from discussion of both issues. Ortega is an engineer and vice president of Houston-based LAN (Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam Inc.). He said he owns no part of the company.

Metro Vice President John Sedlak said there is no ethical conflict in awarding a contract to the company, since Ortega abstained from the votes, which were otherwise unanimous.

Ortega said he was careful to follow state law and Metro’s code of ethics. He said he abstained from the environmental item because of having partnered with Carter & Burgess on other projects.

It’s good that Metro has professional engineers on the board, but you think that would be balanced out by “ordinary joes.” (Hahahahahahahahahaha! Just kidding, who’d do a crazy thing like appoint ordinary citizens with no political connections to a board with the power to hand out billions in public contracts? Man, I kill me…)

Anyway I think we can see where this is going. Metro wil run a special bus lane down Westpark, claim to have fulfilled the voter’s mandate, but then build the rail down Richmond Avenue.

Metro: “Well, golly, it didn’t say we can’t do both!”
Citizens: “But it said the rail had to go down Westpark.”
Metro: “Oh that. Well it didn’t really mean that, and anyway it wasn’t binding!”
Citizens: “Yes it did, and it was!”
Metro: “No, no, no, you just don’t understand the law. And if you disagree, we’ve got millions more to spend on lawyers than you do. So we’re right, right? Of course we are!”

Metro spokesman George Smalley said the five companies agreed to hire 49 subcontractors, with each company exceeding Metro’s goal of 35 percent participation by small and disadvantaged businesses based on contract dollars. Omega is classified as a disadvantaged business, he said.

I wonder how many of those subcontractors were advised on how to get City/Metro business by Ms. Alvarado?

Prediction: Mayor White will continue to back Alvarado to the hilt and a few bones will get thrown to the Fifth Ward, as he will need the black and Hispanic votes to offset massive voter defections down the central-west corridor caused by Metro.

Apparently the City of Houston has realized its position in attempting to withold data used in the Civil Service hearings was untenable, as KHOU has obtained a copy of the files entered into evidence:

There were 264 pages in the document, and that wasn’t even the report. It was a compilation of documents reviewed by the inspector general (OIG).

What blockbuster revalations await the intrepid reporters digging into the file? Well,

For the first time, it was revealed that a warning from the Finance and Administration Department had been sent to the mayor pro tem’s office, with a copy sent directly to Councilmember Carol Alvarado via e-mail.

It said the office was going over budget and specifically mentioned the bonuses Alvarado said she knew nothing about

Uh, actually, it’s not the first time. That was mentioned weeks ago. But you know how it is, everything old is new again….

While the Enron trial has captured most of the headlines, a story far more important to the governance of the Bayou City has continued to rumble away just beneath the surface. More about the marathon hearing held Tuesday has come out in the local press. As everyone knows, the Civil Service Commission upheld the firings of all four employees in the Mayor Pro Tem’s office, despite finding that there was no evidence that two of them were invovled in a conspiricy to obtain illegal raises and bonuses.

Commission Chairman Scott Lemond, a labor lawyer, said his group recognized that Mays and Orta were not as culpable as their supervisors, Hernandez and Watkins, who each received about $50,000 in extra pay.

“There was some evidence that (Mays and Orta) may not have understood completely what was going on, that they may have been duped, but nevertheless, they received some benefits that they were not entitled to, and they knew or they should’ve known that they weren’t entitled to those benefits,” Lemond said.

Regardless, Mays and Orta signed government documents they were not authorized to sign, he said, which was cause for termination.

But the questions not answered here are: were they truly not authorized to sign the documents, were the documents in question of any real importance, and would such have normally resulted in their being fired? Remember, it’s Watkins and Hernandez that got the big bucks and signed all the memos necessary to pass out the pay raises, not these two. Continue reading →

After a marathon of over sixteen hours, the Bonusgate hearings finally ended at 12:45 AM this morning with all four firings being upheld. No one was surprised at the outcome. Several new tidbits did come out though:

• The commission did not find enough evidence to support that Christopher Mays and Theresa Orta were involved in a conspiracy, but that leaves me confused. If they weren’t part of a conspiricy to to receive the raises, then they were recieving raises/bonuses that they thought to be legitimate. Anything else would be a conspiricy. So remind me, if they were receiving what they thought was legitimate pay, what were they fired for again?
• During the meeting on the bonuses Tuesday night, Alvarado said that Rosie Hernandez was ordered to give yearly pay raises to the staff in her District I office. Instead, Hernandez reportedly gave the total yearly raises on every bi-weekly pay check. (Note: I originally thought the article meant % of raise; apparently they mean $$$ amount.) But if the raises went through as they did originally, this means that Alvarado did delegate that authority to Hernandez, because if not, Alvarado should have caught it when presented the papers to sign.
• A memo was entered into evidence in which Alvarado delegated authority in financial matters to Rosie Hernandez. Like I said. . . .
• The FBI sent observers to the hearing.
• An attorney for one of the employees said their client would testify that the bonuses were paid in part as compensation for campaign work done on city time. I don’t see where that testimony was given, but maybe the hearing was cut short?
• What’s this all about? “Watkins’ attorney pushed to have a gift basket as evidence but said Watkins may need it again if there are criminal charges.” I missed something. . .

Continue reading →

Well, the hearings have started. It’s going to be interesting to see what gets said now that the words will be part of the official record. Any backtracking from this point, and it’s possible perjury or obstruction of justice charges, after all.

The hearing was scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m., but the first witness, an investigator with the Inspector General’s Office, was not brought before the Civil Service Commission until about 10:45 a.m.

Mays, one of the first of the fired employees to arrive at City Hall, told KPRC Local 2 that he felt good about his case.

Hernandez, the former manager of the Mayor Pro Tem’s Office, and her attorney, Walter Boyd were the last to arrive at the hearing. Boyd was vocal before the proceedings began.

“I’m in the position of being declared guilty until I’ve proven myself innocent and having the opportunity of never responding to them,” Boyd said.

Uh, don’t you mean, your client? who mis-spoke, Boyd, or the reporter? Continue reading →