At a crucial moment in the development of its light rail system, Metro confronted accusations Wednesday that it shredded documents sought in an open-records request, then fired two attorneys who objected to its handling of the request. State District Judge Robert Shaffer signed a temporary restraining order forbidding the Metropolitan Transit Authority from destroying records requested by former City Controller Lloyd Kelley.
More on a whistleblower being fired:
Sources tells FOX 26 News METRO's top attorney, Pauline Higgins, was terminated Tuesday after trying to warn city leaders about an alleged document destruction campaign at the agency. This comes after Houston Attorney Lloyd Kelley filed court papers demanding METRO's CEO turn over e-mails that may have pointed to questionable deals at the company.
This comes right in the big middle of the Metro transition teams doing their work, and federal money coming in to start the new rail lines. There has got to be more to this story. The shredding was done in secret and was only brought to light by a whistleblower? What documents? What could be going on that would be bad enough to fire up the shredder? Metro controls an enormous amount of money. Have we got the age old tale going on here of money corrupting those in power? Trite.
It's hard not to skip ahead and visualize not only some folks getting thrown under the bus, but perhaps thrown in jail. Mayor Parker has multiple transition teams dealing with Metro issues, and she's promised to fire the board chair and clean house. Sounds like it's time (or past time) for that.
2 comments:
Past time for Parker to make a change.
I couldn't agree more. It's past time for the Metro Chair and other mayoral appointed board members to go.
My understanding is that the Metro transition teams will be wrapping up their work in March.
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