ALLEDGED GIFTS, INTIMIDATION DOMINATE TALK AT LAMAR CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL BOARD MEETING:

 

Does this sound like something you've heard before somewhere? I refer to the article below about Lamar Consolidated ISD and their troubles with "contributions" to board members.

 

Be sure you read this one paragraph from the article below a few dozen times! "The state's penal code prohibits knowingly offering, conferring or agreeing to confer "any benefit as consideration for the recipient's decision, opinion, recommendation, vote, or other exercise of discretion" as a public servant. The law applies to campaign contributions, as well, when there is "an express agreement to take or withhold a specific exercise of official discretion if such exercise of official discretion would not have been taken or withheld but for the benefit."

 

  Alleged gifts, intimidation dominate talk at new Lamar CISD board

 

  By Leah Binkovitz June 27, 2015 Updated: June 27, 2015 9:07pm

 

  http://www.houstonchronicle.com/neighborhood/fortbend/schools/article/Alleged-gifts-intimidation-dominate-talk-at-new-6353826.php

A Houston businessman has denied that he offered money to two Lamar CISD candidates prior to May's elections to try to win contracts from the school district.

 

Tyson Harrell, a new Lamar CISD board member, said during a June 18 board meeting that he and another board member were offered cash during the spring campaign by Jim Gonzales, the CEO of Houston-based IDC Inc. Harrell said they rejected the cash offers, but the new board member questioned its appropriateness.

 

"I was offered an envelope full of cash from Mr. Gonzales in my dental practice," Harrell told the board.

 

Harrell did not elaborate on how much cash was allegedly offered, or whether he was asked for anything in return. Neither he nor James Steenbergen, the other newly installed board member who Harrell said received an offer, responded to requests for comment after the meeting.

 

However, Gonzales denied the allegations in an emailed statement to the Houston Chronicle on Thursday. "Under no circumstances has Jim Gonzales, IDC or its representatives offered to pay any form of compensation to any Trustee or employee with LCISD for consideration of any contractual relationship with LCISD," the statement read.

 

IDC has retained legal counsel, the statement read, "to determine its next course of action."

 

Gonzales did not respond to additional emailed questions, including whether he had offered any money to the candidates for another reason.

 

IDC and Plano-based Gilbane Building Co., which has worked with the district since 2003, were seeking to jointly oversee construction of bond projects approved by voters last year in the district in central Fort Bend County and west of the Grand Parkway.

 

Terminated talks

 

After a contentious discussion about the contract at the June 18 meeting, the board voted 4-3 to terminate negotiations with top-bidder Gilbane on the roughly $8 million contract for a construction manager over 2014 bond projects. The district has said it will not investigate the allegations lodged by Harrell because they do not involve potential misconduct by a district employee.

Gilbane is still under contract for several projects with the district.

 

"While no allegations have been made against Gilbane, we are investigating allegations made against our sub-consultant," said Wes Cotter, Gilbane's director of corporate communication. "Gilbane takes pride in adhering to the highest ethical standards in all our business activities around the world."

 

Harrell and Steenbergen were among three new board members elected last May to the seven-member board for the Lamar CISD. The other is Melisa Roberts.

 

The contentious discussion often pitted newly elected board members against those who had helped select Gilbane last year and who have worked with that contractor in the past.

 

Questioned by Harrell at the meeting, representatives from Gilbane assured the board they had no knowledge of such an offer.

"I'll ask again," Harrell continued, "how do you feel about the CEO of one of these companies offering cash gifts to candidates for the school board." When Bob Stasia, a senior project executive with Gilbane, said he'd have to review the situation, Harrell pressed him further, "You think that's OK?"

 

"No," said Stasia.

 

District Attorney John Healey said he had been approached by someone asking to talk about the allegations. "I'm happy to hear what he has to say, including whether or not he is requesting an investigation, or if he has any substantive information on the matter," Healey said.

 

'They cannot accept it'

 

The state's penal code prohibits knowingly offering, conferring or agreeing to confer "any benefit as consideration for the recipient's decision, opinion, recommendation, vote, or other exercise of discretion" as a public servant. The law applies to campaign contributions, as well, when there is "an express agreement to take or withhold a specific exercise of official discretion if such exercise of official discretion would not have been taken or withheld but for the benefit."

 

"What the law generally says is that if someone is accepting a benefit from someone who is subject to their authority, then they cannot accept it unless the law provides a specific exception," said Ian Steusloff, assistant general counsel with the Texas Ethics Commission.

 

For school board members, there is no limit on campaign donations from individuals, unless given as cash, in which case a person cannot donate more than $100 to a candidate in a given filing period.

 

The Lamar CISD allegations come amid an ongoing legal battle involving a Houston ISD board member accused of accepting bribes from two construction vendors. Court records also show that board member, who has since left office, received a $25,000 check meant as a campaign contribution but did not report it, as required by law.

 

The exchange between Harrell and the Gilbane representative hung over discussions earlier this month as the Lamar CISD board deliberated. And further allegations surfaced as the conversation continued.

 

School board president Kathryn Kaminski told the board that earlier that morning, a fellow board member had called her and pressured her to vote a certain way on the Gilbane contract. The next item on the agenda - an after-school rental agreement - pertained directly to Kaminski, who owned the day care in question. "It was made very clear that if I do not vote their way that the next agenda item coming up would be voted down," said Kaminski, who recused herself from the vote regarding her day care.

 "This intimidation must stop tonight."

 

Allegations fly

 

The discussion devolved after the board voted to terminate negotiations with Gilbane. Several board members expressed displeasure with the handling of the contract. "A lot of different allegations are being made here, and we need to be very careful," said board member Anna Gonzales, who later apologized to Kaminski for shouting at her to "be quiet" when she felt she wasn't being heard.

 

Meanwhile, the pressure mounts to move on bond projects. The district is one of the fastest-growing in the area and has to compete with several other districts with large bonds out to secure construction work.

 

According to procedure, the board authorized the superintendent to open negotiations with the second-ranked construction companies working in partnership, Vanir and Rice Gardner.

 

[My hat's off to Ms. Binkovitz for reporting this matter.  MM]