Sheriff: 'I am not for sale'
Bowles regrets letting vendor pay for items but says it wasn't wrong
12:35 AM CDT on Wednesday, October 15, 2003
Dallas County Sheriff Jim Bowles said Tuesday that he regrets allowing a vendor to buy his meals and pay his travel expenses, because it has created a perception that his integrity was for sale.
The sheriff said his actions were not wrong because he never intended to steer the department's commissary contract to Jack Madera, the CEO of Mid-America Services Inc. He said Mr. Madera's company won the contract because it proposed the best all-around bid.
DMN file Dallas County Sheriff Jim Bowles |
The News reported three weeks ago that Sheriff Bowles accepted thousands of dollars in meals, airfare and hotel rooms during the two years before he awarded a five-year contract to Mid-America to sell goods to inmates in the jails.
Records and interviews also showed that Mr. Madera paid a Dallas construction firm to pave a circular driveway at the sheriff's home in 2001. The sheriff said he reimbursed Mr. Madera with cash and equipment.
Mr. Madera did not hold the department's commissary contract at the time the driveway was constructed. After selling his former company, Mr. Madera emerged with a new company last year and won Sheriff Bowles' commissary business in June 2002.
Sheriff Bowles has both affirmed and denied being friends with Mr. Madera.
Clayton P. Henry, the sheriff's political consultant, said last week that the two men have been "friends for life."
Sheriff Bowles said again Tuesday that he is not close to Mr. Madera. When Mr. Madera was battling cancer a couple of years ago, Sheriff Bowles said he "didn't even go to the hospital."
"I didn't know if he was going to live through it," Sheriff Bowles said. "For six to eight months, I didn't even see the man. We are not that close."
During his interview with the editorial board, the sheriff apologized for decisions that could have hurt his public standing and criticized The News' coverage of them.
"There is the ominous thing of perception," he said. "It makes me look absolutely stupid and crooked, and I am profoundly sorry. But my conscience is clear. I have absolutely no ulterior motive in anything I did."
He said his acceptance of lunches and trips amounted to no more than everyday "networking." In the future, he said, he would pay for his own lunch with Mr. Madera.
"Under the circumstances, I did not perceive those lunches as anything more than a business lunch," he said. "I didn't perceive the trip as anything other than saving money for my training budget."
Held to higher standard
But the sheriff also suggested that law-enforcement officers are held to a higher standard of conduct and cannot accept gratuities.
During his years as a Dallas police officer, he refused free meals from Brownie's, he said. Patrol officers frequented the landmark diner in East Dallas because they ate free there, he said.
"You just don't take things from people," he said.
One of the department's general orders speaks to the relationship between deputies and vendors, and says employees' conduct "is likely to be scrutinized far more severely than that of other persons."
"When dealing with prospective contractors, employees must avoid becoming engaged in conduct which is, or might appear to be, censurable," the order states.
Sheriff Bowles said his conduct did not violate that order.
"I subscribe to it personally," he said. "I comply with that."
The sheriff also suggested that District Attorney Bill Hill had cleared him of wrongdoing after The News published its stories.
"Mr. Hill has already been approached, and he has already told there is nothing wrong," the sheriff said.
Dallas County prosecutors said Mr. Hill made no such ruling
"From my personal knowledge, that is not accurate," said Pat Batchelor, chief of the public integrity section. He said he could not comment about whether his office had received a complaint or started an investigation.
Asked whether he would invite an outside party to investigate, Sheriff Bowles said: "I've got no problem if it would make you feel better."
Outside investigation?
Dallas County Judge Margaret Keliher said Tuesday that she believes an outside agency should investigate The News' findings.
"I think it definitely creates the appearance of impropriety that should probably be looked into," Ms. Keliher said.
The sheriff also said he had done nothing else with Mr. Madera for which he could be criticized.
"If I had anything to cop out to, I would," he said. "I've forgotten most of this stuff that was dredged up."
In the end, the sheriff said, the controversy will pass. He said he will win re-election despite a challenge from former Chief Deputy Danny Chandler.
"This would never had been a question if it wasn't for a political challenge," he said. "I have been a damn good sheriff and will be a damn good sheriff."
E-mail dmichaels@dallasnews.com
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