InvestorGate: Campaign contributions. It's not just a donation, it's an "investment".
Coming on the heels of Lobbysgate, the July 15, 2011 campaign finance reports were just published and as a taxpayer/citizen of Williamson County, they raise serious questions.
Valerie Covey and Lisa Birkman's reports are riddled with a virtual who's who related to a direct interest in building roads. Most have or have had contracts with the Wilco.
As a private citizen, I find it troubling that the Williamson County Commissioner's Court not only approves, but now writes the contracts they approve. Many friends and neighbors I have talked to think this is a huge conflict of interest and doesn't pass the smell test. The fox guarding the henhouse (no pun). There is no oversight with this process which leads to corrupted practices and cronyism. A huge lack of transparency has damaged the Williamson County Commissioners Court and as each day goes by, another black eye issue emerges.
At first glance, I didn't think much of the donors. But after researching who the names on the reports were connected to, I became very suspicious.
Lisa Birkman Pct 1 Commissioner shows to have had $15,745.00 in donations this reporting period.
Valerie Covey Pct 3 Commissioner had $47,930.00.
Of the $15,745.00 contributed to Birkman, 64%, or roughly $10,000.00 of that is from individuals employed by companies with a direct interest in building roads, PAC's or other special interests.
Valerie Covey, Pct 3 Commissioner raised $47,930.00, not including the $7,500.00 in-kind donation. What I saw in her report sent red flags flying. Donations from PAC's located in New York and Florida to others in Houston, San Antonio, Richardson, The Woodlands, Austin and more. And yes, another lobbyist, Gay Erwin. Gay is a registered lobbyist for Halff Associates, a huge firm who consults on roads and a big contributor to both Birkman and Covey. A $500.00 contribution from the law firm Russell & Rodriguez, the two lobbyists Wilco never approved to register as lobbyist on behalf of Wilco. And the Lobbygate law firm of Smith Robertson gave each $500.00.
Of the $47,930.00, 55% (over $26,000.00) came from individuals employed by companies with a direct interest in building roads, PAC's and other special interests.
Valerie Covey Contribution Report
Lisa Birkman Contribution Report
Below is a list of some, by far not all, who contributed to both Birkman and Covey. All are either under contract by Wilco, were at some point or have direct ties to roads.
Russell & Rodriguez- Williamson County's undocumented and unapproved lobbyists $500.00 ($2,000.00 total to Covey and Birkman since 06)
Jim Powers $200.00
Donald Primosic $250.00
Gary Raba $250.00
Ken Schrock $500.00
Shane Shafer $400.00 ($2,200.00 total to Birkman and Covey)
Smith Robertson $500.00 (Lobbygate attorneys)
Perry Steger $250.00
Theron Vaughn $750.00
Mike Weaver $500.00 Road Bond Manager Prime Strategies
Keith Young $2,000.00
Ken Aicklen $500.00
Joe Baker $500.00 No bid contract for the Birkman Taj Mahal County Surveyor
Harvey Allen $1,500.00 ($7,250.00 Total) Firm retained by County to collect delinquent taxes
Coleen Beck $500.00
Robert Austin $125.00
Andrew Bilger $500.00
Dan Rogers $500.00
Mark Rodriguez $250.00 (Has donated 1,250.00 to Birkman) 500.00 total to Covey
Brent Binkley $250.00
Joe Bland $400.00
C.R. Coneway $250.00
David Bodenman $250.00
Paul Bury $250.00
Daron Butler $200.00
Steven Carothers $500.00 Environmental Consultant
Jeff Collins $1,000.00
Amy Doucet $200.00 Earth Quest Land Surveyors
Scott Dukette $1,000.00 (4,000.00 total) PBS&J
Michael Elliot $600.00
Gay Erwin Lobbyist for Strategic Partnerships $250.00
Billy Huggins Engineer $1,000.00 (4,000.00 total)
Wesely Jasek $500.00
Blake Magee Land Developer $1,000.00 (7,000.00 total)
Ricardo Zamarippa $1,000 Engineer (Ex TxDot)
Kenneth Schrock $250.00
Tim Timmerman $500.00 (2,000.00 total)
HNTB PAC (Roads) $2000.00 (4,000.00 total)
PBS&J PAC (Roads) $1,750.00 Tampa Bay Florida (4,250.00)
LAN PAC (Roads) $500.00
Parsons and Brinkerhoff PAC (Roads) New York, NY $500.00
CH2M PAC (Roads) $500.00
Chiang Patel PAC (Roads) $500.00
HDR PAC (Roads) $750.00 (4,250.00 total)
Halff Associates PAC (Roads) $500.00 (7,550.00 total)
S&B PAC (Roads) $500.00 Houston Texas
I applaud the efforts of the WCEA keeping the citizens informed with the entire story, not fluff. I also greatly appreciate the opportunity I was given to put my two cents in on this issue. As a taxpayer, this "pay to play" way of doing business is not ok. These "investments" that are made to the commissioners campaign accounts by these people are not ethical. I demand more transparency, accountability and a more ethical way of doing business from my elected county commissioners.
Jake Anderson
HOLY SMOKES! HOOOOOOOOOOLY SMOKES! So people from New York, Florida, Houston, San Antonio, Austin funneling money to them. People who don't live in Williamson County. People who can't vote for them. People who obviously have an agenda to "invest" in getting million dollar road contracts or have them do what they say. This is CRAZY!!!!!!!! Jake, you're the man!
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Thanks, Jake. You've exposed the serious business behind all of this corruption. If people don't believe this smoking gun, nothing will convince them.
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Kickbacks. Pay to play. Lobbygate. Both writing and approving contracts. Nothing unethical about Val and Lisa. (Tongue planted firmly in cheek)
Who the heck is running against these two clowns.
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Great job Jake! I share your sentiments. This is bad bad bad.
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"another lobbyist, Gay Erwin. Gay is a registered lobbyist for Halff Associates"
CRAZY! Bought and paid for by lobbyists and road peeps. Sickening.
I was one of those who thought J Duty was also losing her mind when this all started. Not anymore. It's crystal clear now.
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Thanks Jake. Excellent work in compiling this information.
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This kills all of their credibility and integrity. Well, any she had left.
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Hi Val. Bye Val.
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My head just exploded. There it is. in black and white. No denying it. Owned by big money and selling out Williamson County. Pathetic.
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No wonder they took Hal Hawes from the County Attorney. He will just rubber stamp all of the contracts so Covey can get her roads and new building. No County Attorney watching them lets them do all of this and hire outside lawyers for whatever they want. I still want to know why they hired a board certified criminal defense attorney using my tax dollars.
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All crystal clear now of why they pulled Hal from Jana.
Probably hired Leavitt for the same thing Austin did:
The Austin Bulldog reported February 7 that the City of Austin committed $159,000 to engage three law firms to provide legal advice related to Texas Open Meetings Act: James E. “Jim” Cousar of Thompson & Knight LLP, C. Robert “Bob” Heath of Bickerstaff Heath Delgado Acosta LLP, and Randy T. Leavitt of the Law Office of Randy T. Leavitt.
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Also of note is the fact that Val spent over $15000 from her campaign finances in an off election year. Does that seem strange? Of particular interest are the payments to a Jarrell preacher for "consulting expense" and "solicitation"
If I were giving a campaign money and that campaign was spending it in off years for reasons other than campaigning, I would be concerned.
I find nothing in the pastor's description of services concerning political consulting.
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Precher Bill was the treasurer for the ESD (Emergency Services District #5) for Jarrell.
Jan 19, 2010: Discuss and take action on the re-appointments of Steffan Gerlica, Ashley Reeves and Bill Gravell to the board of ESD #5 for a two year term beginning January 1, 2010.
Motion By:Commissioner Precinct 3 Valerie Covey
Second By:Commissioner Precinct 1 Lisa Birkman
Looks like ole Val has a cozy relationship with a guy she appointed as the treasurer. No conflict there. *eyeroll*
http://www.examiner.com/williamson-county-conservative-in-austin/corn-hill-fire-station-opens
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I would call Val but she obviously doesn't return calls or emails. That's ok. She lost my vote.
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Jake, Appreciate your effort in tallying up the consultants, contractor's, developers and lobbyists but your list above doesn't even come close to all of the donations given by employees of firms that routinely get work from Wilco. I find it pretty misleading that so many firms choose to have their employee's cut the check to protect the commissioner. I'm in the business so I know many of the others who contributed thru the "work" program. (wink, wink). I'd say their contributions are closer to 90% from folks "paying to play" so to say. Wow, I've never really looked at contribution reports before and I'm amazed. I'm also amazed by how many "professional" engineers who will compromise their principles to make a buck. Bad economy or not. Sad.
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Ouch, that's gunna leave a mark. Great post for sure. Really paints a picture of who is who in the pockets of a few. "Investment" lol That's rich!
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