Two councilmembers asked for payroll-related records
The latest developments in the investigation related to the Mayor Pro Tem's office got buried somewhat by yesterday's power outage at Chron.com.
As Matt Stiles reported for the Chronicle, the DA's office has asked for records of two other councilmembers as part of a broader investigation of council payrolls:
Harris County prosecutors have requested campaign-finance records filed by City Council members Michael Berry and Jarvis Johnson as part of the probe sparked by payroll padding in the Office of Mayor Pro Tem.
An investigator working for District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal last month asked the city for Berry's forms going back four years and Johnson's records for 2006, according to a letter obtained by the Houston Chronicle under the Texas Public Information Act.
Rosenthal has said previously that his office was reviewing city procedures and officials beyond the unauthorized bonuses and pay increases in the Office of Mayor Pro Tem. He has declined to elaborate on the latter probe.
Rosenthal said Wednesday that his staff was "just trying to be thorough" in asking for the records, even though the letter states that the campaign reports were needed "pursuant to an official investigation."
"I don't think it would be accurate to say that these records were part of an ongoing investigation," he said. "We just need to have them."
Berry and Johnson, interviewed at City Hall on Wednesday, said they hadn't been contacted by investigators.
Later in the story, Stiles suggests the interest in these particular records may be related to the late filing of recent campaign reports by Berry and Johnson. Both councilmembers pledged to cooperate fully with investigators, if it comes to that.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/06/06 08:11 AM | Print |
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