Posted on 12/10/2004 1:09:55 AM PST by weegee
Federal prosecutors Thursday subpoenaed city records related to bribery charges against former Mayor Lee Brown's chief of staff and asked for records of a second official who served in Brown's administration.
The subpoena from an Ohio prosecutor seeks personnel records of Oliver Spellman, who was named in federal bribery charges earlier this week, and of Monique McGilbra, who quit as director of Houston's Building Services Department in April 2003.
McGilbra, who at the time said she was leaving to work in the private sector, could not be reached for comment Thursday. She has not been named in any criminal complaint. She was, however, under investigation by the city's Office of Inspector General for undisclosed reasons at the time of her resignation.
City Attorney Arturo Michel said Thursday that the OIG investigation was suspended at the request of federal authorities who said they also were investigating. He did not know when that request was made.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Cleveland asked the city to submit the subpoenaed documents by Thursday as part of a grand jury probe into possible political corruption spanning three states. At the heart of the investigation is politically connected Cleveland businessman and consultant Nate Gray.
Investigators testified in a Cleveland trial that he is suspected of bribing officials to get contracts for his airport shuttle company, Etna Parking.
The U.S. attorney in Cleveland charged in a complaint Tuesday that Spellman accepted $2,000 to $3,000 and a Las Vegas hotel stay from a Cleveland consultant in exchange for his help in Houston.
The complaint does not identify Gray by name, but other evidence in the investigation points to him.
Unnamed city official The complaint also accuses Spellman of helping the consultant "obtain favorable consideration from a city of Houston official who was selecting a vendor to provide energy services."
Michel said he did not know if McGilbra is that unnamed city official or if she is being investigated for possible criminal wrongdoing. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Cleveland could not be reached after city officials released the subpoena late in the afternoon.
The prosecutors also asked for records of a $950,000 city contract with Camp, Dresser & McKee, a Boston-based engineering firm. The city has had a contract with that firm since 2001 to evaluate energy vendors. Michel said McGilbra would have played a role in that contract as the then-director of building services.
Officials at the company did not return the Chronicle's calls.
Spellman served as Cleveland's parks director, then held that post in Houston for four years before being named Brown's chief of staff in early 2002. Spellman resigned from Brown's administration in October 2002.
Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia hired him as a deputy soon after she took office in 2003. Spellman resigned that position Dec. 3.
Neither Spellman nor Gray has responded to requests for comment.
Garcia said Thursday that county attorney Mike Stafford continues to look into the county contracts Spellman handled.
"So far we have found no evidence that would indicate mishandling of contracts," she said. "We are doing this as a precaution."
Mayor Bill White said he will cooperate with federal prosecutors and will ask the OIG to investigate the same matters.
"I view this as an opportunity for the city to expose to the light of day what the city's procurement practices have been" White said.
Etna's contract at Bush Intercontinental Airport is not with the city, but with a consortium of rental car companies that contracts with the city to provide services at the airport.
Airport services deal The consortium signed a private contract with Cincinnati-based First Transit to provide shuttle services between a new rental car lot that opened in the summer of 2003 and the airport.
Dan Beerck, associate general counsel for First Transit, said the company in turn formed a joint venture with a Cleveland-based firm, Integrity Group, to provide the shuttle services at Bush.
Integrity hired Etna to provide a minority business component for the contract, Beerck said.
a corrupt politico? In CLEVELAND?!? no way!!!! /sarcasm off
some people never learn...
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