Lynn Walsh

A story produced for Texas Watchdog:

HISD parents and students will learn, then earn
Thu Aug 26 12:48:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

Some Houston parents and students will get paid for participating in a new academic incentive program after Houston Independent School District trustees approved the $1.5 million privately-funded program Thursday at a board workshop.
Parents will receive $20 up to nine times a year to attend conferences with their child’s teachers, Chuck Morris, HISD’s chief academic officer, said. Students will receive $2 for every objective they complete.

Morris said these objectives will be in the form of homework sheets the student would complete and the parents would sign. If all of the 200 objectives are completed, a student could earn $400. The students’ work will be based on skills measured by the standardized test TAKS, or Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.

Twenty schools will be selected for the program, which is being funded by the Dallas-based Liemandt Foundation.

Morris said HISD is still working on developing a relationship with a bank or financial institution that would provide financial education to students as well as set up bank accounts for the students’ earnings.

HISD trustees approved the new program with a 7-0 vote. Trustee Carol Galloway was absent, and Trustee Diana Dávila’s seat is vacant.

Trustee Harvin Moore said he was intrigued by the new program.

“I know experts have looked at this, and this is not just an initial idea,” Moore said. “It’s been tried before, so I kind of trust them for the moment.”

Listen to his entire comments in the video below.

Morris said the elementary schools with the lowest math scores in the district will be selected for the program. According to HISD, none of the schools in a separate academic achievement program known as Apollo 20 will be involved. Elementary schools for that program have not been named.

In the planning phases for Apollo 20, Superintendent Terry Grier said students could get paid between $7-$8 an hour to attend tutoring sessions. HISD has put that plan on hold, but Morris said it could be discussed for the 2011-12 school year.

When the option of paying students at the Apollo 20 schools was being discussed in May, Texas Watchdog asked Grier if it was fair to pay some students and not others.

“It would be nice to have money to provide tutoring for everyone, but if you don’t have that type of resource then you have to provide tutoring with the resources you have for the students who need it the most,” Grier said. View his entire comments in the video below.

Do you think HISD should pay students to learn? Do you think parents should be paid to attend conferences with teachers? Let us know what you think. Message us on Twitter, @texaswatchdog or @lwalsh. E-mail Lynn Walsh at lynn@texaswatchdog.org.

A story produced for Texas Watchdog:

HISD alternative school provider Community Education Partners releases 2001-03 contract documents with Trustee Larry Marshall
Wed Aug 25 13:25:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

Houston Independent School District Trustee Larry Marshall made at least $72,000 over two years from a company that will be paid $13.7 million this year to run an alternative school for HISD, documents show.

Contracts obtained from Community Education Partners show that Marshall worked for Community Education Partners, or CEP, as a consultant earning $3,000 per month from 2001-2003. Marshall’s work was performed under the auspices of his firm M Associates of Houston.

According to Randle Richardson, chief executive officer for CEP, Marshall was also working for the alternative school company in 2000 under similar terms, but he could not locate that document. With three one-year contracts, Marshall would have earned $108,000 from CEP from 2000 to 2003.

The figures conflict with the salary of $72,000 annually reported by the Houston Press in 2006 based on court documents, but Marshall has said the higher figure is incorrect.

The contract documents support Marshall’s earlier statement that he didn’t work on the Nashville, Tenn.-based company’s behalf in Texas, and that he resigned in 2004 when a policy was put in place to bar trustees from earning income from district contractors. In fact, Richardson said Marshall performed no work after the contract term was up in June 2003.

According to the contracts:

“The responsibility of the Consultant shall be to initiate contacts and perform duties requested in the normal course of the Company’s business development efforts. This responsibility only includes efforts outside of the state of Texas.”

Richardson said both Marshall and CEP wanted to make sure that Marshall “didn’t do anything in Texas.”

“At the time everyone patted it on the back for going above and beyond what was necessary,” Richardson said. “Lately when I have been contacted people act like this was a deep dark secret. It was not, we did not go behind closed doors, we disclosed everything to the board and did this in public.”

Marshall has acknowledged working for CEP as a consultant many times. At a board meeting in June, Marshall said he was a “consultant in Atlanta assisting them with business development and helped them to have a presence in Atlanta.” You can view his entire comments in the video clip below.

According to Marshall and Richardson, before Marshall signed a contract to be a consultant for CEP, it was discussed with HISD lawyers, the district and trustees “in order to avoid a conflict.”

Richardson said HISD lawyers allowed the arrangement as long as “the contract was disclosed openly, Marshall did not vote on anything dealing with CEP and Marshall did not enter into any discussions involving CEP or lobby district staff on behalf of CEP.” The standards are listed in the contracts.

Individuals associated with the alternative school provider — which Superintendent Terry Grier in March said should be cut loose, then a few months later said should be retained — have also donated to Marshall’s campaign. Marshall’s most recent campaign finance reports show that his campaign received $2,500 from individuals associated with CEP during the months of debate over whether to renew the contract. HISD trustees approved the contract in June, 6-1, with Marshall voting in favor. Trustee Anna Eastman voted against the contract renewal, and Trustees Paula Harris and Diana Dávila, who resigned earlier this month, were not present.

“If someone sends us a solicitation, we will send something. If there is a golf tournament and someone asks us to buy a ticket, we will,” Richardson said.

Marshall has said the donations did not create a conflict of interest because it was not the first time CEP had donated to trustee campaigns. Richardson and another executive at CEP gave $1,000 total to HISD Trustee Mike Lunceford, who voted to renew the contract.

Contact Lynn Walsh at lynn@texaswatchdog.org or 713-228-2850. Follow @lwalsh or search #HISD on Twitter for news about the Houston Independent School District.

A story produced for Texas Watchdog:

Covering Elections: TrentTV | Aired August 24 via newmediatv.org
Tue Aug 24 12:50:00 2010 CST
By Lee Ann O’Neal
Texas Watchdog logo

View today’s TrentTV episode on covering elections below. Hosts Mark Lisheron and Jennifer Peebles chatted with our live audience about backgrounding candidates, in-depth profiles, and issues coverage.
Texas Watchdog’s Lynn Walsh, usually behind the camera producing the show, will host the next TrentTV, a live discussion of watchdog stories on schools to air at 11:30 a.m. CST Sept. 28.

newmediatvorg on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

FOIA: Fun-Ongoing-Interesting-Activities
Aug 09 2010
By Lynn Walsh, Texas Watchdog

With deadline after deadline in a TV newsroom it can be laughable to think anyone would have time to file a freedom of Information act request.

On top of taking the time to file it correctly, there is always the time it takes to find the correct person to send it to, knowing what to ask for and of course waiting and keeping track of the response itself.

While a time crunch is a plausible excuse, it shouldn’t be yours. Here are some tips I have learned along the way on how to use the Freedom of Information Act and state-level public information laws to develop enterprise stories and add some spice to dailies.

1. Prepare Early

This may sound like a no-brainer but sometimes it helps to be reminded. There are certain documents that are filed on the same date every year-campaign finance reports, conflict of interest reports, etc. Keep a calendar of when the documents are due and prepare requests ahead of time that can be sent first thing on the due date.

2. Subscribe to e-mail lists

It can be annoying to have a inbox flooded with newsletters–but remember it only takes one click to delete them. Subscribe to what corresponds to your beat. E-mail newsletters will show you reports that are coming out, big trials, etc. Reports often stem from audits-request it. You may have a summary of the trial but why not request the whole court document?

3. Request Databases

Whether it is a salary database or a contract database, the information listed inside can be invaluable time and time again. Once you put in the request make sure you have access to those databases at all times. Details like salary, hire dates, contract totals a company has with a city or other government entity always add to the story and can help set your story a part from the competition.

4. E-mails/Communication

Was there a little argument at the City Council meeting? Heard rumors about construction bids being approved “in the dark?” Request all communication records: e-mail, written, phone, etc. from the players involved. Don’t forget about personal schedules, calendars, personal cell phones, personal e-mails….

Documents hold information that is hard to refute and they are always “on the record” when attained through FOIA or public information laws. Use this to your advantage!

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

Project GRAD program — where HISD administrator moonlights as executive director — gets funding boost from HISD
Fri Aug 13 15:09:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

Another high school in the Houston Independent School District will receive funding for a program to increase graduation rates after trustees approved more than $59,000 for the new program at a Thursday meeting.

Phillis Wheatley High School in northeast Houston will add Project GRAD (Graduation Really Achieves Dreams) Houston to its campus. According to the Project GRAD Houston website, the nonprofit is part of a national program that works to increase high school graduation and college attendance rates for low-income students. The national program grew “from a scholarship program which began in partnership with (the) Houston Independent School District in 1989.”

HISD trustees unanimously approved the $59,221 cost associated with the program for Wheatley bringing the total cost of Project GRAD Houston’s contract with the district to $1.9 million for the 2010-11 school year.

In June HISD trustees approved a renewal of the contract between the Houston district and Project GRAD Houston. The agreement for the coming school year includes work at three high schools — Jefferson Davis, John Reagan and Jack Yates — and five elementary schools, Thomas Jefferson, James Ketelsen, Adele Looscan, Clemente Martinez and Sidney Sherman.
graduation caps

Texas Watchdog reported earlier that HISD administrator Ann Stiles had been working full-time for HISD’s Project GRAD program. She earned more than $67,000 a year from HISD while also serving as the executive director for the nonprofit, earning $120,201 in 2008, according to IRS documents. The total paycheck for the two jobs comes to more than $187,000 annually.

HISD Superintendent Terry Grier revealed Stiles’ moonlighting Monday to trustees and the public at a board meeting.

“I want to bring it to the board’s attention as it is probably an ethical issue that should be discussed,” Grier, who took over as the school system chief last September, told the group. He didn’t elaborate.

Stiles’ letter of resignation from HISD is dated Aug. 2. The reason for the resignation, according to the document, is “other employment.” Stiles did not return a call left Wednesday at Project GRAD’s office.

“There does not appear to be a violation of any policy,” and the district knew about her moonlighting, HISD spokesman Norm Uhl said by e-mail. “I just don’t think the question of the possible appearance of a conflict had been asked until now.”

Contact Lynn Walsh at at 713-228-2850 or lynn@texaswatchdog.org. Follow news about the Houston Independent School District on Twitter, #HISD.

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

Owner of company implicated in HISD E-Rate ethics probe denies giving gifts to employees
Fri Aug 13 14:22:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

Cell phones, playoff sporting tickets, trinkets and thousands of dollars in personal checks — all allegedly given to Houston Independent School District employees by federal technology program vendors that had a multi-million dollar contract with the Houston district — but the owner of one company says he had nothing to do with it.

Frank Trifilio, head of the now-defunct Analytical Computer Services, said he and his company never gave gifts to HISD employees, beyond an occasional fast-food lunch, and sought to distance himself from one-time business partners in an interview with Texas Watchdog. Trifilio, of Houston, said HISD confused Analytical with his subcontractors in the federal E-Rate program and that his company was the scapegoat in an investigation that resulted in his being banned from doing business with the district.

From 2005 to 2008, Trifilio and his business partners allegedly showered gifts including cash, meals and fishing trips on employees managing E-Rate, an HISD memo detailed by Texas Watchdog last month. Analytical provided $45 million in technology services between July 2005 and June 2009, a district contracts database shows. A federal lawsuit stemming from the improper gifts was settled by the district this year, and HISD has strengthened its ethics policy for E-Rate employees and board members.

Trifilio said he’s also suffered consequences.

“I lost everything, including my family,” Trifilio said. “I went through all of my savings just to get lawyers in Washington to defend me. I had to lay off 200 employees because the company went bankrupt.”
present

Trifilio said ACS, which was the umbrella organization for other technology vendors also implicated in the ethics probe, stopped operating in January 2007.

Analytical Computer Services “gave cellphones to approximately 26 district employees at one time or another from approximately August 2002 to February 2007,” according to the district memo penned by an outside law firm for HISD.

“I never provided phones for anyone at HISD,” Trifilio said. When asked if it is possible that one of his 200 employees could have, he expressed disbelief: “No, I sign off on all of the bills. I would have seen something like that.”

Trifilio said HISD confused his company with subcontractors Acclaim Professional Services, owned by Larry Lehmann, and Micro Systems Enterprises, where Frankie Wong was president. Wong is in prison for his role in a bribery scandal involving the Dallas Independent School District.

“We were the scapegoat” in the controversy because of confusion over vendor identification numbers, Trifilio said. Micro Systems and Acclaim took on some of the contracted work because the district believed the volume was too much for one company to handle, Trifilio said.

“In the E-Rate program, you cannot split up vendor numbers for projects, so HISD put in my SPIN number and my name,” he said. “Our number was being used, but we were not doing the business.”

E-Rate obtain the numbers from the Universal Service Administrative Company, which under the direction of the FCC administers the E-Rate program, said Richard Patton, HISD’s E-Rate compliance official. Patton said he was not aware of any limitations on the vendor ID numbers like what Trifilio described.

“I became the umbrella organization because ACS was the only company with a SPIN number,” Trifilio said. “We (Micro Systems) were archenemies. The relationship was nothing but a title.”

Professional basketball suite tickets appear to be the most valuable of the gifts that HISD lawyers found came from Trifilio’s company. Then-Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra “and a guest attended three Houston Rockets playoff games in the Analytical Computer Services Inc. (‘ACS’) suite in 2005,” apparently NBA playoff games 3, 4 and 6 against the Dallas Mavericks in the playoffs’ first round.

In an earlier interview with Texas Watchdog, Saavedra said he was invited to the games by HISD trustees, took his wife, but didn’t realize it was a vendor’s suite. He said he subsequently sent Trifilio a check for $300 to cover the costs.

Trifilio said he cashed the check, which was accompanied by “a very nice letter.”

Trifilio said the suite at the Toyota Center belonged to him and ACS but downplayed the appearance of a cozy relationship between his company and the district.

“The suites were mine,” Trifilio said. “Trustees were probably invited by a general manager. There were as many ACS employees there as there were board members.”

Other allegations outlined in the memorandum include gifts from ACS of fanny packs and koozies, or foamlike beverage containers, to HISD. Trifilio denies that ACS ever provided such items unless HISD employees picked them up at a convention.

Why would HISD employees and trustees attend a basketball game at an E-rate vendor’s suite?

Trifilio said the fact that board members were there is irrelevant because “the board members have zero influence in us getting any E-Rate contracts. The procurement is done on a lower level.” Board members vote on contracts or sign off on them after they are approved by district staff, depending on their value.

Trifilio said Analytical and district staff had a “camaraderie” with each other, which led to some district employees also attending games in the company suite.

“We had people (at HISD) all the time, at least eight people there, 40 hours a week,” Trifilio said. “They became friends with people over there. They had their own badges. They felt as if they were employees at HISD.”

Trifilio said when his company took HISD employees out to lunch, which he said happened a handful of times, the conversation was focused on current work.

“We didn’t talk about upcoming bids,” he said.

Former district technology employees William L. Edwards, Steve K. Kim and Laura M. Palmer were the primary recipients of the gifts and meals, the memo from HISD firm Bracewell & Guiliani said. Their names were closely guarded by the school district for years and were only released after a Texas Watchdog public information request that the district challenged to the attorney general’s office.

According to the memo, Edwards and Palmer accepted a ride on Wong’s fishing boat, the “Sir Veza” — the same name of a $305,000, 46-foot yacht connected to the E-Rate scandal in Dallas. Dallas ISD’s technology chief, Ruben B. Bohuchot, is in a federal prison in Fort Worth after being found guilty in the bribery and money laundering scheme.

Wong created a company to maintain the “Sir Veza,” according to the Justice Department.

“We worked together, but we hated each other with a passion,” Trifilio said, even though he mentioned he had taken his sons fishing on the boat. “We did north side, they did south side and that is that.”

Trifilio cooperated with the grand jury in the Dallas investigation, even though there was no information he could contribute, he said.

Trifilio said he had not talked to Lehmann. Texas Watchdog has attempted to contact Lehmann multiple times but has been unable to reach him.

Trifilio said he owns a rehab and renovation company.

“I am 65 years old, and I am cleaning toilets,” he said, adding that he works alone.

“No more subcontractors.”

Contact Lynn Walsh at at 713-228-2850 or lynn@texaswatchdog.org. Follow news about the Houston Independent School District on Twitter, #HISD.

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

HISD employee double-dips with contractor to earn $187K a year; Grier: ‘Probably an ethical issue’
Wed Aug 11 05:03:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

A Houston Independent School District administrator has had a lucrative side job for at least three years — running an education nonprofit that has a nearly $2 million contract with HISD, something Superintendent Terry Grier says is “probably an ethical issue.”

Ann Stiles’ job at HISD in recent years has been overseeing the school system program coordinated by her own group, Project GRAD Houston, which tries to prevent low-income children in HISD from dropping out of school. Project GRAD has a $1.86 million contract with the Houston district, which school trustees renewed in June.

As HISD teacher specialist for Project GRAD, Stiles is a full-time HISD employee, earning a salary of $67,318 this year plus benefits, district spokesman Norm Uhl said.

But that’s not her only source of income. Stiles is also the executive director for Project GRAD Houston, where, according to the group’s IRS form, she earned $120,201 in 2008 and listed an average 40 hours of work per week. The total paycheck for the two jobs comes to more than $187,000 annually.

Stiles’ moonlighting was revealed Monday by Grier to school system trustees and the public. “I want to bring it to the board’s attention as it is probably an ethical issue that should be discussed,” Grier, who took over as the school system chief last September, told the group. He didn’t elaborate.

However, school officials had previously known of Stiles’ two jobs, Uhl said, though he did not elaborate on how long the district had known.

Asked whether an HISD employee is allowed to also work for a nonprofit that contracts with the district, Uhl said in an e-mail, “there does not appear to be a violation of any policy and it was known that she worked for the district. I just don’t think the question of the possible appearance of a conflict had been asked until now.”

Project GRAD Houston’s IRS form and its Web site list HISD Trustee Paula Harris as one of the group’s board members. Her name appears on the group’s IRS form on the same page as the one identifying Stiles as executive director. Harris and another HISD trustee, Anna Eastman, had questioned Grier about Stiles’ dual employment at the Monday meeting, but Harris did not volunteer publicly that she is a Project GRAD board member.

Stiles has submitted a resignation letter to the school district, effective Aug. 31, Uhl said. A school district staffer told the trustees Monday that the resignation had been turned in, though it was unclear exactly when it was submitted.

HISD salary records show Stiles has been a district employee since August 1993. She was initially hired as a teacher at Jefferson Elementary School, Uhl said.

The first reference to Project GRAD in Stiles’ employee file at HISD is in 1997, Uhl said, where Stiles is listed as a math teacher at the now-closed Lamar Elementary serving as a “Teacher Trainer under Project Grad.”

She began working as Project GRAD’s teacher specialist for HISD in August 2000, earning a salary of more than $40,000, Uhl said. Salary records show her HISD pay increased each year, up to the $67,318 she earned last year.

It was not clear at press time when Stiles became an employee of the nonprofit organization Project GRAD. IRS forms for the nonprofit were available online as far back as 2006, and all three years’ forms describe Stiles as the executive director.

Texas Watchdog called the Project GRAD Houston office number, asking for Stiles. A receptionist said Stiles was in a meeting and took a message. As of print, Stiles did not return the phone call.

HISD’s headquarters at 1800 W. 18th St. is 8.5 miles away from the Project GRAD office at 3000 Richmond — a 25-minute drive in traffic, according to Google Maps.

According to its website, Project GRAD (Graduation Really Achieves Dreams) Houston is part of a national program that works to increase high school graduation and college attendance rates for low-income students. The national program grew “from a scholarship program which began in partnership with (the) Houston Independent School District in 1989.”

The group was founded by former Tenneco oil chief James Ketelsen and his wife, Kathryn; James Ketelsen is Project GRAD Houston’s president and board chairman, while Kathryn Ketelsen is one of Harris’ fellow directors. HISD named an elementary school after James Ketelsen in 2002.

In June HISD trustees approved a renewal of the contract between the Houston district and Project GRAD Houston. The agreement for the coming school year, for $1.86 million, includes work at three high schools — Jefferson Davis, John Reagan and Jack Yates — and five elementary schools, Thomas Jefferson, James Ketelsen, Adele Looscan, Clemente Martinez and Sidney Sherman.

The possible addition of a ninth site, Phillis Wheatley High School in northeast Houston, prompted Grier’s mention of Stiles’ dual employment at Monday’s school board meeting. The addition of Wheatley and the additional costs of $59,221 associated with it are up for approval by school trustees Thursday (agenda item D-4).

Do you think HISD should have a policy that prohibits an employee from receiving a taxpayer-funded salary from the school district while at the same time working for a business or nonprofit that contracts with the district?

Let Texas Watchdog know what you think. Contact Lynn Walsh, Lynn@TexasWatchdog.org or 713-228-2850. On Twitter, @TexasWatchdog or @Lwalsh, and follow #HISD for stories, meeting highlights and more on HISD.

A story published for Texas Watchdog:

Video: HISD Trustee Harvin Moore addresses TEA accountability ratings
Tue Aug 10 18:16:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

More Houston Independent School District schools are receiving higher state accountability ratings than last year, recent reports released from the Texas Education Agency show, but critics blast the standards as too low.

Over 100 schools in the Houston Independent School District received the highest state rating of “exemplary” this year and almost 250 schools in HISD made “adequate yearly progress,” or AYP, a federal requirement for campuses and states that measures reading, math and graduation and attendance rates. In both instances, the number of schools meeting the standard is greater than last year.

But what does it all mean? AYP ratings are a result of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. TAKS test results are used when determining both federal AYP ratings and TEA accountability ratings–exemplary, recognized, not acceptable, etc. But critics say the standards have gotten so diluted as to be a poor measure of achievement.

The Texas Tribune reported on the issue last month, underscoring the measure’s unreliability.

In fifth grade reading, 44 percent of students who were projected to pass actually failed. In eighth grade math, 38 percent. In 11th grade reading and math, 30 percent and 28 percent, respectively.

Houston Chronicle columnist Rick Casey questioned the use of the Texas Projection Measure last week:

Schools and school districts are bumped up one rating level if the TPM projects their students to do well enough to reach that level within the next few years.

I don’t blame administrators or teachers, especially those with responsibility for educating low-income children, for liking the TPM. They have a tough job, and they enjoy getting public credit for making gains, even if those gains don’t show up in passing rates on the high-stakes test.

And the West University Examiner raised questions about specific HISD schools that made it on the state’s list of “acceptable” schools:

Curiously, also listed as recognized is Fondren Middle School, called a failing school by HISD and placed in the Apollo program for schools in need of immediate turnaround or risk potential closure by the state. Other Apollo schools were included in the acceptable category, including Ryan, Dowling and Attucks middle schools. Four high schools in the Apollo initiative, Sharpstown, Lee, Jones and Kashmere, were named unacceptable. Kashmere and Key were previously on the state’s acceptable list until a recent TEA ruling that demoted both due to findings of test data improprieties.

It is not just the media that is questioning the rating system used by the TEA. HISD trustee Harvin Moore has for months raised concerns over the current rating system during board meetings. Moore has even opined on the issue on his personal blog, The Transformation Times:

“Each year, state standards boards have announced that they are lowering their ‘cut scores’ (number of questions a child must answer correctly to pass) for various noble reasons, usually because ‘the test questions are harder this year, so the same level of proficiency is reflected by a smaller number of correct answers.’”

Moore discussed with Texas Watchdog what he believes may be the solution to inflated state accountability ratings and lowered cutoff scores: Common Core. Watch the clip below for more.

Contact Lynn Walsh at 713-228-2850 or lynn@texaswatchdog.org. Follow news about the Houston Independent School District on Twitter, #HISD.

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

HISD board president Greg Meyers corrects campaign finance form, reports $1,400 in reimbursements to himself

Fri Aug 6 20:31:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

Houston Independent School District board president Greg Meyers amended his July campaign finance report today, adding more than $1,400 in reimbursements to himself for phone bills, a day after a Texas Watchdog story that noted the omission.
On the original campaign finance report, Meyers left off more than $1,000 in checks and a withdrawal from the campaign account to Meyers, bank records obtained by Texas Watchdog showed. The campaign checks and withdrawal slip were signed by Meyers.

On the cover page of the amended report, Meyers writes:

“I inadvertently omitted some expenditures on schedule F to myself as reimbursement for the properly reported schedule G expenditures. I am filing this corrected report within 14 days of learning of the error; which was yesterday, August 5. I believe my report as originally filed substantially complied with the law.”

Three checks of $250, a $200 check and a $100 deposit were posted to the “Greg Meyers Campaign” account between January and April. In addition to those transactions, in the correction to the campaign finance report Meyers lists a fifth check for $393.16 made out to Meyers from his campaign account on June 23.

Greg MeyersMEYERS
When alerted to the discrepancies Thursday by a reporter, Meyers said the mistake was in not properly listing the checks as a reimbursement for more than $1,500 in AT&T campaign phone bills, which were listed in the initial report

Meyers said that he had never submitted campaign finance reports with reimbursements before and that it was just a filing mistake. He later acknowledged that on his Jan. 15 campaign finance report he had correctly filled out the paperwork to show reimbursements to himself.

Candidates in Texas are required to disclose campaign expenses without exception, though small expenditures do not require the same level of detail as larger ones.

Meyers was elected to the HISD board of education in 2004 and re-elected in 2009. He represents District VI, which includes Sharpstown and Westside high schools and encompasses an area north of Westheimer Road south to Bellfort Street.

Contact Lynn Walsh at 713-228-2850 or lynn@texaswatchdog.org. Follow news about the Houston Independent School District on Twitter. Follow @TexasWatchdog or search #HISD.

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

HISD board president Greg Meyers fails to report more than $1,000 in campaign finance payments to himself
Fri Aug 6 02:14:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

More than $1,000 was disbursed from Houston Independent School District board president’s Greg Meyers’ campaign account — to Meyers himself, bank records show — but not a dime of it is listed on his campaign finance report that was filed in July and covers the time period of the checks.

Meyers signed for the cash withdrawal and cut the checks that were dated and cleared the campaign account in January, February, March and April, bank documents obtained by Texas Watchdog show. The failure to report the payments and their purpose is a violation of Texas election law that can carry fines.

“I appreciate you bringing this to my attention, and I am going to be amending this first thing in the morning,” Meyers told Texas Watchdog Thursday afternoon.
Greg MeyersMEYERS

Meyers said the payments actually totaled around $1,200 and were reimbursement for $1,514 in AT&T campaign phone bills he had paid. Those phone bills are listed beginning on page 5 of the report.

“I thought that if I put the expenses in both (schedules) F and G, then I would need to put that in the total,” Meyers said. “That would have doubled the amount that was due back to me. That is not my intent.”

The payments included: A cash withdrawal of $100 was posted to the “Greg Meyers Campaign” account by Meyers on Jan. 20. Meyers wrote himself a $250 check dated Feb. 19 that cleared the campaign account three days later. A month later he signed two more checks for $250 each. The checks were written on March 6 and March 31, clearing the account within days. He wrote a subsequent $200 check on April 17.

State campaign finance law permits candidates to reimburse themselves for campaign-related expenses as long as the expenses are itemized and reported — Meyers did so in his January report, which noted the campaign reimbursed him for $550 in meals.

Meyers, who fills out his own campaign finance reports, first said he had never had to fill out the section of the reporting form that tracks personal expenses prior to the July report.

“I looked at the instructions and what it said to do. It was a live-and-learn moment. I have never done any reimbursements like this before.”

But the process for disclosing the payments to himself for phone expenses would have been identical to the one Meyers undertook in January for campaign-related meals.

“I don’t know. I don’t have it in front of me,” Meyers said in a second interview. “But I believe what you are saying and have no reason to doubt you. Obviously, I made a mistake, and I can amend it, and it is a miss on my part.”

Dr. Charles Mullins, the treasurer listed on Meyers’ campaign finance reports since at least 2008, said he has not had contact with Meyers in two or three months. Mullins is the father of Sandie Mullins, Meyers’ ex-wife.

“It was sort of just a title,” Mullins said. “I have never had any working with it.”

Candidates in Texas are required to disclose campaign expenses without exception, though small expenditures do not require the same level of detail as larger ones.

“Some payee would have to be tied to it,” Tim Sorrells, a lawyer at the Texas Ethics Commission, said of a scenario like Meyers’. “It is correct that if someone makes a political expenditure from campaign funds, it needs to be disclosed.”

Meyers was elected to the HISD board of education in 2004 and re-elected in 2009. He represents District VI, which includes Sharpstown and Westside high schools and encompasses an area north of Westheimer Road south to Bellfort Street.

Meyers said he expects his amended report to be available to be viewed Friday at the HISD Hattie Mae White building at 4400 West 18th St.

Contact Lynn Walsh at 713-228-2850 or lynn@texaswatchdog.org. Follow @texaswatchdog on Twitter, or search #HISD, for news about the school district.