KTRK's Dolcefino continues investigation of county government (02/25/2008)
KTRK-13's Wayne Dolcefino has been poking around in county government again, and last night he ran the first of a series of reports on apparent Harris County government cronyism and sweetheart deals. Here's a teaser:
You have to wonder why we've uncovered things in weeks that some Harris County officials claim they never knew for years about. Items like a big real estate deal involving lots of your money. Our focus is over who got the winning hand in the deal.
If it's a game of poker, Michael Surface better hope the FBI doesn't have a good hand.
The Houston developer is facing up to 45 years in prison if convicted of charges of conspiracy to bribe a city official, wire fraud and lying to the feds.
"Maintain they are not true and we look forward to our day in court to prove that," Surface said.
"What we have to do is make sure there aren't any county scandals," said Harris County Judge Ed Emmett.
That's why we're investigating the players in a $35 million real estate deal on Murworth Street.
Flashback to1998. Michael surface was working for you. The $8,800 a month head of the Harris County Building Department. But his fortunes changed quickly. Surface leaves county government in May of that year and just months later he would be the big winner. Cashing in on a multimillion dollar real estate deal with Harris County for what is now the headquarters of Adult and Child Protective Services on Murworth.
And in this county, the revolving door is allowed.
Be sure to check out the entire story (and all the fascinating details) here. Dolcefino promises more on Harris County cronyism on tonight's 10 pm broadcast.
Traditionally, newspapers have done this sort of multi-part investigative/watchdog reporting on government. In recent years, though, the area's newspaper of record hasn't seemed very interested in this sort of coverage of county (or regional) governmental institutions. It's good to see other news outlets stepping in to fill the void.
UPDATE (02-27-2008): A reader passes along this 2002 Chronicle story, which covers similar ground.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/26/08 10:37 AM | Print |
Previous Entry | Home | Next Entry
ADVERTISING
DISCLAIMER
All content © 2004-09, blogHOUSTON and the respective authors.
blogHOUSTON.net is powered by Nucleus.
Site design and Nucleus customization are by Kevin Whited.