The leadership of the Houston Independent School District hasn't said in so many words that it's entirely appropriate for HISD trustees president Paula Harris to vote on contracts that included work for a company owned and run by one of Harris' closest friends.
But they certainly aren't condemning her for it.
But they certainly aren't condemning her for it.
(See the orignal Texas Watchdog story by clicking here.)
Trustee Carol Mims Galloway said she didn't know whether the votes presented a conflict of interest. Trustee Manuel Rodriguez said it was a personal decision, Greg Meyers said it was “up to the individual board member,” and Harvin Moore said it was a “judgment call.” HISD Superintendent Terry Grier said through a spokesman that he would not voice an opinion on the matter. And the school system's spokesman criticized Texas Watchdog for characterizing Harris' votes as a potential conflict of interest.
When asked whether Harris should have abstained from voting on $28 million in contracts that included work for her friend's company, Galloway said she wasn’t sure.
“Well, I do not know ... but if it’s a very closely related friend, I would think so, but, I do not know to what extent, because I don’t know people in her circle because she’s so much younger than me,” said Galloway, a former Houston city councilwoman.
Galloway said she was not aware of Harris’ relationship with Nicole West, who is an owner or principal in a handful of firms that have done business with HISD. She said the friendship between Harris and West never came up as a topic of discussion while trustees prepared to vote on the various contracts. Galloway said she knows West but doesn’t “know her that well or who she’s associated with.”
In remarks she made as she was being installed as president of the HISD trustees earlier this year, Harris said she was the godmother of West's children, and added that both she and West were godparents to the children of state Rep. Borris Miles, D-Houston, whose insurance firm has provided flood insurance to HISD, records show. At the same meeting, Miles called Galloway his “my dear mother and friend” and said she “almost was my mother-in-law.”
Rodriguez also said he was not aware of the relationship between Harris and West, and said the decision to abstain from voting is a personal one for each trustee. “That’s normally left to our ethics,” he said. “If there is some sort of association, relation, we recuse ourselves from voting and abstain if that’s something that you feel might come into play in any way.”
Said trustee Mike Lunceford: “If you look at the rules, (West is) not a family member.” Harris "has said she has no conflict, so, at this point, I have nothing to go by to say that there would be.”
Meyers echoed Lunceford’s comments.
“I know there are no policies or laws that have been violated. I think, from my standpoint, it is up to the individual board member if they think there is any need to abstain,” Meyers said. “... One of the things I would like to point out was, last year when I was board president, even though we had (or) have one of the strongest ethics policies, I think, of any school district that I could think of, last year we embarked on adding to it and put in that ‘black out’ period and I think that’s something that has really strengthened what we do further. And it shows that the bidding process, the (request for proposals) process, the whole process of dealing with a vendor, is very important to the board because it passed unanimously. So, (it was) another attempt to make what we do and how things are governed, as far as process-wise, even stronger.”
Among the amendments made to the conflict-of-interest policies last year was the addition of a "code of silence" period -- generally covering the entire bidding-and-contracting process -- during which trustees and many HISD administrators are forbidden from communicating with potential vendors.
“I have never been approached by another trustee about a contract vote,” trustee Anna Eastman said in a written statement. “I have had people who are not on the board contact me regarding upcoming votes on contracts.
“I need to know that our procurement process is free from influence to remain focused on my ultimate goal, which is graduating young adults from every corner of this city equipped to realize fully their goals and dreams.”
While the leadership may not object, some in the HISD community are critical. A group calling itself “Educators for a Better District IV” -- the HISD district Harris represents -- have circulated an e-mail in recent days criticizing Harris' connection to West. "We find it strange that while our schools are suffering and in need of education dollars, those dollars have gone into her best friend's pocket," the email reads. No current HISD employees identified themselves publicly in the missive.
Harris' votes broke no laws, ordinances or HISD rules. The district's conflict-of-interest policy for trustees forbids HISD from contracting with business entities "in which a Trustee or anyone related to the Trustee in the first degree of consanguinity (blood) or affinity (marriage) ... has any pecuniary interest." It makes no mention of friends or acquaintances.
In an interview with Texas Watchdog last week, Harris said her votes were ethical because West is not a relative. She said she has never used her influence to help West gain business with the school district.
“It doesn’t look good, in the sense that someone is getting all these contracts in all these different fields," said Robert Wechsler, research director for City Ethics, a national nonprofit that works to improve local government ethics programs. "It definitely sounds fishy, but it’s hard to say that there was a violation," he said, given that the Houston school district's ethics policies don’t mention anyone but relatives.
“One of the problems is that this is one of these areas that ethics codes don’t deal with that well," Wechsler said. "It is hard to define a 'friend.' It’s hard to define a 'girlfriend' or 'boyfriend.' So, usually, they’re not included. It’s only family members and business associates -- you can say you are partners, or you own a business together -- those kinds of things are factual. (But) nobody wants to go to the next step of defining what a friend is or what a lover is, so they're usually left out, and they usually cause a lot of problems.
"It's really important to point out with ethics laws that they’re minimum requirements," he said. "It doesn’t mean that because it doesn’t say you can’t do it, like with friends, that means it’s OK to (approve) lots of contracts to your friends. It’s one of those areas (where) you really have to look at the spirit of the law.”
Harris and the other trustees merely voted up or down on slates of vendors to be approved for each contract. The makeup of each slate for each contract was determined by HISD's administrative staff based largely on the estimated cost, and the trustees had no input into which companies were included in each slate, HISD has said. The votes on all four contracts were unanimous.
"If just knowing someone means that you can’t vote, or that you have to disclose it, then, that’s problematic," Moore said. "The question is, how well do you have to know someone before you need for everybody to realize that you know someone? And then, what sort of relationships count? ... I don’t know how you define that, for a friendship. It’s easy to define for (a) relationship, because that’s in the law and it’s pretty consistent. And you are either related to someone or you're not. You just can’t do any business. But knowing someone -- that’s where it probably becomes more of a judgment call."
Some government agencies’ ethics policies do consider the involvement of people other than family members as conflicts of interest. Just this week, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Nevada state ethics law, which had been challenged by a city councilman who had been censured by the state ethics commission over a conflict of interest. The councilman had voted to approve a land-use change for a proposed hotel-casino that employed the councilman’s campaign manager, an old friend, as a consultant.
Trustee Juliet Stipeche returned a phone call for comment but could not be reached by press time.
Trustee Larry Marshall, a retired longtime HISD administrator, also didn't return calls but lavished praise on Harris at last week's school board meeting, the evening after Texas Watchdog's story was published regarding West and Harris' connections. Marshall -- who has previously recused himself from votes on the grounds of having a potential conflict of interest -- said the district was lucky to have Harris as president, calling her "sweeter than a politician's promise and colder than a mother-in-law."
Grier, who was hired by the trustees, has previously questioned HISD's contracting processes, saying he discerned "no rhyme or reason except, quite frankly, influence where influence has no business coming from." However, a spokesman last week said Grier did not want to give his personal opinion of Harris' relationship with an HISD vendor.
"Dr. Grier is not in the business of passing moral or ethical judgments on the decisions made by his bosses on the Board of Education," HISD spokesman Jason Spencer said in an e-mailed statement. "However, his administration has made it clear to you that there are no policies or laws prohibiting members of the HISD Board, or any governmental entity in Texas, from voting on contracts with companies that happen to be headed by people with whom they are friends."
Spencer challenged Texas Watchdog's statement in last week's story that Harris' votes presented a "potential conflict of interest”: "The fact that it appears you were unable to find anyone willing to go on the record making an allegation is very telling," Spencer wrote. "It is also very telling that, to my knowledge, no one has filed a complaint against Ms. Harris in this matter."
Trustee Carol Mims Galloway said she didn't know whether the votes presented a conflict of interest. Trustee Manuel Rodriguez said it was a personal decision, Greg Meyers said it was “up to the individual board member,” and Harvin Moore said it was a “judgment call.” HISD Superintendent Terry Grier said through a spokesman that he would not voice an opinion on the matter. And the school system's spokesman criticized Texas Watchdog for characterizing Harris' votes as a potential conflict of interest.
When asked whether Harris should have abstained from voting on $28 million in contracts that included work for her friend's company, Galloway said she wasn’t sure.
“Well, I do not know ... but if it’s a very closely related friend, I would think so, but, I do not know to what extent, because I don’t know people in her circle because she’s so much younger than me,” said Galloway, a former Houston city councilwoman.
Galloway said she was not aware of Harris’ relationship with Nicole West, who is an owner or principal in a handful of firms that have done business with HISD. She said the friendship between Harris and West never came up as a topic of discussion while trustees prepared to vote on the various contracts. Galloway said she knows West but doesn’t “know her that well or who she’s associated with.”
In remarks she made as she was being installed as president of the HISD trustees earlier this year, Harris said she was the godmother of West's children, and added that both she and West were godparents to the children of state Rep. Borris Miles, D-Houston, whose insurance firm has provided flood insurance to HISD, records show. At the same meeting, Miles called Galloway his “my dear mother and friend” and said she “almost was my mother-in-law.”
Rodriguez also said he was not aware of the relationship between Harris and West, and said the decision to abstain from voting is a personal one for each trustee. “That’s normally left to our ethics,” he said. “If there is some sort of association, relation, we recuse ourselves from voting and abstain if that’s something that you feel might come into play in any way.”
Said trustee Mike Lunceford: “If you look at the rules, (West is) not a family member.” Harris "has said she has no conflict, so, at this point, I have nothing to go by to say that there would be.”
Meyers echoed Lunceford’s comments.
“I know there are no policies or laws that have been violated. I think, from my standpoint, it is up to the individual board member if they think there is any need to abstain,” Meyers said. “... One of the things I would like to point out was, last year when I was board president, even though we had (or) have one of the strongest ethics policies, I think, of any school district that I could think of, last year we embarked on adding to it and put in that ‘black out’ period and I think that’s something that has really strengthened what we do further. And it shows that the bidding process, the (request for proposals) process, the whole process of dealing with a vendor, is very important to the board because it passed unanimously. So, (it was) another attempt to make what we do and how things are governed, as far as process-wise, even stronger.”
Among the amendments made to the conflict-of-interest policies last year was the addition of a "code of silence" period -- generally covering the entire bidding-and-contracting process -- during which trustees and many HISD administrators are forbidden from communicating with potential vendors.
“I have never been approached by another trustee about a contract vote,” trustee Anna Eastman said in a written statement. “I have had people who are not on the board contact me regarding upcoming votes on contracts.
“I need to know that our procurement process is free from influence to remain focused on my ultimate goal, which is graduating young adults from every corner of this city equipped to realize fully their goals and dreams.”
While the leadership may not object, some in the HISD community are critical. A group calling itself “Educators for a Better District IV” -- the HISD district Harris represents -- have circulated an e-mail in recent days criticizing Harris' connection to West. "We find it strange that while our schools are suffering and in need of education dollars, those dollars have gone into her best friend's pocket," the email reads. No current HISD employees identified themselves publicly in the missive.
Harris' votes broke no laws, ordinances or HISD rules. The district's conflict-of-interest policy for trustees forbids HISD from contracting with business entities "in which a Trustee or anyone related to the Trustee in the first degree of consanguinity (blood) or affinity (marriage) ... has any pecuniary interest." It makes no mention of friends or acquaintances.
In an interview with Texas Watchdog last week, Harris said her votes were ethical because West is not a relative. She said she has never used her influence to help West gain business with the school district.
“It doesn’t look good, in the sense that someone is getting all these contracts in all these different fields," said Robert Wechsler, research director for City Ethics, a national nonprofit that works to improve local government ethics programs. "It definitely sounds fishy, but it’s hard to say that there was a violation," he said, given that the Houston school district's ethics policies don’t mention anyone but relatives.
“One of the problems is that this is one of these areas that ethics codes don’t deal with that well," Wechsler said. "It is hard to define a 'friend.' It’s hard to define a 'girlfriend' or 'boyfriend.' So, usually, they’re not included. It’s only family members and business associates -- you can say you are partners, or you own a business together -- those kinds of things are factual. (But) nobody wants to go to the next step of defining what a friend is or what a lover is, so they're usually left out, and they usually cause a lot of problems.
"It's really important to point out with ethics laws that they’re minimum requirements," he said. "It doesn’t mean that because it doesn’t say you can’t do it, like with friends, that means it’s OK to (approve) lots of contracts to your friends. It’s one of those areas (where) you really have to look at the spirit of the law.”
Harris and the other trustees merely voted up or down on slates of vendors to be approved for each contract. The makeup of each slate for each contract was determined by HISD's administrative staff based largely on the estimated cost, and the trustees had no input into which companies were included in each slate, HISD has said. The votes on all four contracts were unanimous.
"If just knowing someone means that you can’t vote, or that you have to disclose it, then, that’s problematic," Moore said. "The question is, how well do you have to know someone before you need for everybody to realize that you know someone? And then, what sort of relationships count? ... I don’t know how you define that, for a friendship. It’s easy to define for (a) relationship, because that’s in the law and it’s pretty consistent. And you are either related to someone or you're not. You just can’t do any business. But knowing someone -- that’s where it probably becomes more of a judgment call."
Some government agencies’ ethics policies do consider the involvement of people other than family members as conflicts of interest. Just this week, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Nevada state ethics law, which had been challenged by a city councilman who had been censured by the state ethics commission over a conflict of interest. The councilman had voted to approve a land-use change for a proposed hotel-casino that employed the councilman’s campaign manager, an old friend, as a consultant.
Trustee Juliet Stipeche returned a phone call for comment but could not be reached by press time.
Trustee Larry Marshall, a retired longtime HISD administrator, also didn't return calls but lavished praise on Harris at last week's school board meeting, the evening after Texas Watchdog's story was published regarding West and Harris' connections. Marshall -- who has previously recused himself from votes on the grounds of having a potential conflict of interest -- said the district was lucky to have Harris as president, calling her "sweeter than a politician's promise and colder than a mother-in-law."
Grier, who was hired by the trustees, has previously questioned HISD's contracting processes, saying he discerned "no rhyme or reason except, quite frankly, influence where influence has no business coming from." However, a spokesman last week said Grier did not want to give his personal opinion of Harris' relationship with an HISD vendor.
"Dr. Grier is not in the business of passing moral or ethical judgments on the decisions made by his bosses on the Board of Education," HISD spokesman Jason Spencer said in an e-mailed statement. "However, his administration has made it clear to you that there are no policies or laws prohibiting members of the HISD Board, or any governmental entity in Texas, from voting on contracts with companies that happen to be headed by people with whom they are friends."
Spencer challenged Texas Watchdog's statement in last week's story that Harris' votes presented a "potential conflict of interest”: "The fact that it appears you were unable to find anyone willing to go on the record making an allegation is very telling," Spencer wrote. "It is also very telling that, to my knowledge, no one has filed a complaint against Ms. Harris in this matter."
***
Jennifer Peebles contributed to this report.
Contact Lynn Walsh at 713-228-2850 or lynn@texaswatchdog or on Twitter at @lwalsh. Contact Jennifer Peebles at 281-656-1681 or jennifer@texaswatchdog.org.
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Photo of HISD trustee board meeting by Flickr user mikemcguff, used under the Creative Commons license.
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