Free Republic

Events of the past week reminded me of the wisdom of the late Bill Crane, one of my political science professors. Crane wrote a popular textbook on Texas politics. Needless to say, he understood political corruption, and divided it into two types. It wasn't Democrat and Republican. This was before Texas Republicans had enough power to be corrupt. Crane's distinction was between Catholic corruption and Protestant corruption. He wasn't talking theology, but sociology. His use of the term "Catholic" was shorthand for immigrant groups that arrived relatively recently: Irish, Italians, Mexicans, and so on. The "Protestants" were the moneyed and...

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....

Reports that Oliver Spellman has been charged by the U.S. attorney in Cleveland, Ohio, with conspiring to obtain bribes will surely trouble the people whose image of him was so different when he worked for the city of Houston. Spellman, who had been recruited as Houston's parks director in 1998, came from a similar position in Cleveland. Once here, he charmed parks supporters and won plaudits for streamlining the bloated departmental bureaucracy and cleaning up and renovating city-owned green space. So highly regarded was Spellman that he was touted as a leading candidate for the parks directorship of New York...

Bribe charge sparks city probe Allegations against ex-official spur wide review of airport, energy service contracts City officials began a review of airport and energy services contracts Wednesday after learning that an Ohio consultant linked to federal bribery allegations against former Houston Parks Director Oliver Spellman won a shuttle bus contract at Bush Intercontinental Airport. "I've asked the city attorney to investigate based on the information we have received from the federal district attorney," Mayor Bill White said. He said City Attorney Arturo Michel will prepare a memo to the city's office of inspector general on issues that might require...

Mayor Bill White spoke Wednesday about city integrity following the bribery indictment of a one-time aide to former Mayor Lee Brown. Oliver Spellman, who until last Friday also worked as a top aide to County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia, has been charged with criminal conspiracy to obtain bribes as a public official. It stems from allegations he helped a consultant in Cleveland, Ohio win City of Houston contracts. Mayor White says all contracts handled by Spellman are under review, and corruption will not be tolerated. "I've said in public microphones for two years, public contracting should be clean and transparent, no...

Oliver Spellman, the Cleveland parks director under former Mayor Michael R. White, was charged Tuesday with accepting bribes from Beachwood consultant Nate Gray in exchange for political favors in Houston, where Spellman was the mayor's chief of staff. The charges, along with interviews and court documents, show that a sweeping public corruption investigation focusing on Gray has spread beyond the borders of Cuyahoga County to Texas and Louisiana. In Houston, Gray paid Spellman $2,000 and gave him a free hotel stay in Las Vegas and other gifts to land a contract for Gray's business, Etna Parking, to provide shuttle-bus service...

The recent indictment of New Orleans business executive Gilbert Jackson on charges of federal tax evasion is intertwined with a much larger federal probe based in Cleveland that authorities say has produced evidence of public corruption in a handful of cities, New Orleans among them. [snip] "In one instance, a series of recordings are recounted indicating that a bribe has been requested, paid and succeeded in securing access for a contractor," the brief says. "In another recorded conversation, the very words used by the interceptees demonstrate that the corrupt official in question wants to be part of 'a long-term thing.'...

Ex-Brown aide faces Ohio bribery charge Oliver Spellman is accused of aiding a consultant trying to get city contracts ----- A chief of staff to former Mayor Lee Brown was charged Tuesday in Ohio with accepting bribes in exchange for helping a Cleveland consultant who was trying to win city of Houston contracts. The charge against Oliver Spellman, who more recently worked as a top aide to County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia, is part of a continuing investigation that already has resulted in the bribery indictment of a Cleveland city councilman. Garcia said Spellman resigned suddenly Friday as her chief of...