It's a grave allegation: AshBritt, a debris removal company, claims that Democratic state Senate candidate Joe Jaworski used Hurricane Ike to help a client at his law practice.

A former Galveston mayor pro tem, Jaworski is locked in a tight race against long-time incumbent Mike Jackson for the District 11 seat covering the Galveston area.

In a letter sent to Jaworski and obtained by Texas Watchdog, the corporate counsel for AshBritt contends that Jaworski pressured the city to "deactivate" the company' s contract the day after the vicious hurricane made landfall.

Essentially what that means is that on Sept. 14, right after Hurricane Ike blew through, someone in Galveston government sounded the alarm for Ashbritt to come in with its crews, big trucks and saws. Ashbritt geared up to go into Galveston and help the residents there dig out -- but then, on the morning of Sept. 15, after sounding that alarm, someone in city government said, no, thanks.

Why would Jaworski presumably use his influence in Galveston to halt a post-Ike cleanup effort?

The letter claims that Jaworski wanted to pave the way for his own client -- another debris removal company called DRC -- to operate as the clean-up firm in Galveston.

In part, the letter to Jaworski reads:

We believe your actions were unconscionable and a tortious interference with the contract rights of AshBritt. Unless you and your client cease and desist and AshBritt is permitted to perform under its contract, AshBritt will initiate in due course a suit against you and your client for damages, including lost profit.

Jaworski's office didn't return two calls for comment. That's no surprise.

But no one from AshBritt would speak to us about the letter. And AshBritt's claims now seem odd, in part because Galveston officials tell us that the company is still doing what it was paid to do: Alicia Cahil, a spokesperson for the city of Galveston says that "AshBritt is definitely removing debris from the city."

Cahil adds that the city is divided into two geographic areas -- one half is covered by AshBritt, the other DRC.

Interestingly, the spokesperson would not confirm or deny whether Jaworski ever contacted the city of Galveston on behalf of DRC.

At the very least, we know that Jaworski and DRC have some connection: According to Jaworski's most recent campaign finance reports, Steve Kuck, listed as a DRC executive in Mobile, Ala., donated $2,000 to his campaign. Is that a display of heartfelt admiration from an Alabama man who just happens to be following a state Senate race in Texas -- or a smart business move?

Lest you get the idea from us that one of these companies is run by angels and the other is wining and dining public officials to get special treatment, both these companies have a checkered history, and officials from both companies donate to public officials.

In this 2005 Mississippi case, a local government was none too happy with AshBritt's work. The company also set up a firm to secure contracts set aside for minority-owned companies -- and even continued to list itself as a minority-owned firm when it was run by a white male. And AshBritt is no stranger to getting lucrative contracts after making political donations. Company officials and the officials who award those contracts say there is no connection between the two.

In the case of DRC, it has its own spotty history. It's gotten its share of contracts in post-Katrina New Orleans -- while its top brass have been hosting fundraisers and making political donations in the Big Easy.

Still, we're simply not sure what's going on. If anyone wants to shed some light on this, give us a call.

For further reading, here are the Galveston contracts with AshBritt and DRC:

AshBritt Contract

drc-contract

E-mail Trent Seibert at trent@texaswatchdog.org or Matt Pulle at matt@texaswatchdog.org, or call 713-366-7974.

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