Isiah Carey continues to keep city officials on their toes
Isiah Carey posted two fine stories this week for KRIV-26 that can definitely be filed under the "watchdog media" heading.
First, he looked into possible payment discrepancies to a company the city's IT department uses to procure computers and other technology materials. Carey obtained an internal city memo that said there are "serious issues" with the company in question and that the "controller's office is ready to take legal action" against the company based on audits that suggest there have been "advance payments and over charges." The company said any financial discrepancies will be resolved.
The second story he did was about the gambling junket a city employee planned while on city time, using city resources. The employee works in the Code Enforcement department which is a part of the Public Works department. When Carey sought a comment from PW spokesman Wes Johnson, Carey says Johnson suggested he should be pursuing more newsworthy stories, such as the astronaut arrested in Florida, or the "good things Mayor White is doing for the city of Houston."
On his blog (a must read for those wanting to keep up with local news and events), Carey added more:
On Wednesday the p-r guys for the public works department tried to kill the story by contacting a news manager. They said it wasn't worth broadcasting. Luckily, at FOX I have great managers who stick by the reporters. Anyway, one of the p-r reps told me it wasn't that big of a deal. He admitted the workers broke city policy but he says it didn't add up to much - dollar wise. I reminded this p-r guy that in the past he has always said to me the public works department can't waste one dime of the taxpayer's money. But now that p-r guy is saying the amount the employees wasted wasn't a big deal!
Good work, Isiah!
(On a personal note, this will probably be it for me for at least a few more days as I continue to battle a wicked head cold. Sigh.)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/10/07 09:54 AM | Houston Miscellany | Print | Comments (6)
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