Councilwoman Elisa Chan Discussions (San Antonio, Austin: appointed, leasing, attorney)

[Merovee]

Is Councilwoman Elisa Chan in a pickle?

She didn't return my call, understandable for a councilwoman in a corner.

Chan is faced now with two unpleasant ways out: She could agree, as she did in 2009, with the mayor's logic, conceding that her actions were questionable; or she could fight his reforms, defending a status quo from which she profits.

Chan pulled contract with SAWS in 2009 - San Antonio Express-News

[Bo]

Not good timing for this to matter politically, since she was just re-elected last May and city voters have short, short memories.

She's the rep for my district, I've met her personally and I'm not a fan FWIW. I do think she's one of the most pragmatic members of the council and like most members of the council, she's very concerned with public perception.

If the City Attorney tells her it's a conflict of interest, I'm sure she'll resolve it quickly.

[datacity]

Originally Posted by Bo

Not good timing for this to matter politically, since she was just re-elected last May and city voters have short, short memories.

She's the rep for my district, I've met her personally and I'm not a fan FWIW. I do think she's one of the most pragmatic members of the council and like most members of the council, she's very concerned with public perception.

If the City Attorney tells her it's a conflict of interest, I'm sure she'll resolve it quickly.

I think the point of the article is that her company did pull out of the contract with SAWS in 2009 due to the talk with the City Attorney. However, the same company has had other city contracts in recent months (e.g. VIA).

I also think the article meant to illustrate the political skill of our mayor who was able to deflect a potential conflict of interest situation with someone close to him and then come out for a city ethics code that could show Ms. Chan in a negative light. Ms. Chan, whatever you think of her, usually does not just automatically tow the line when it comes to issues in front of the council.

On a related note, these types of conflict of issue things seem to come up at city and state levels often. I wonder if that is because in the intent to not make elected council positions a career, we do not pay the mayor and council members a "normal" salary. The same thing often happens in Austin where we have a part-time legislature. I am not sure what the answer is to solve this, but I am sure others have some ideas.

[Bo]

Originally Posted by datacity

I also think the article meant to illustrate the political skill of our mayor who was able to deflect a potential conflict of interest situation with someone close to him and then come out for a city ethics code that could show Ms. Chan in a negative light. Ms. Chan, whatever you think of her, usually does not just automatically tow the line when it comes to issues in front of the council.

On a related note, these types of conflict of issue things seem to come up at city and state levels often. I wonder if that is because in the intent to not make elected council positions a career, we do not pay the mayor and council members a "normal" salary. The same thing often happens in Austin where we have a part-time legislature. I am not sure what the answer is to solve this, but I am sure others have some ideas.

You're right. Chan often rows the opposite direction of the mayor. I hadn't considered that this revelation might be a payback.

As for your second point, I have often railed here about the ridiculously low pay for city council reps and the mayor, but a woefully underpaid and term-limited council and mayor are what the voters have indicated they want. Some council districts have been getting a level of service that fits the pay for the job. Under those circumstances, it makes a lot of sense that people who've had business dealings with the city would see the value of sitting in a council seat, while the average citizen just looks at the low pay and shrugs. You're right to connect the dots that way.

[Bo]

Chan sent out an open letter, responding to this today. She raised some interesting points and highlighted the apparent political payback aspect of the story that we discussed above.

Dear District 9 Residents & Friends,

An Express-News reporter recently asked me about my reaction to the mayor's proposal on adding new rules to the current ethics ordinance and the creation of an Ethics Auditor position. I told him that philosophically, I believe that we should first make efforts in enforcing and educating people about existing rules/ordinances/laws before we pass another rule/ordinance/law, further increasing the layer of bureaucracy and allocating additional resources.

Currently, we have the City's Office of Municipal Integrity, Ethics Review Board and City Attorney's office already having oversight on these issues. Increasing the size and power of government is not the solution to this problem.

If the proposed ethics rules change is the mayor's reaction to the recent Convention Center Contract incident, then it is important to point out that the public was unhappy about the situation not because of inadequate rules in place, but because of the lack of meaningful actions. The mayor had the opportunity to table the agenda item for further discussion and consideration, but instead, he told the Council and the City Manager that he was comfortable moving forward with the contract award.

There was also opportunity for action after the Ethics Review Board issued its finding, but again no action was taken. If the current ethics code is not being taken seriously, what confidence should the public have in the enforcement of additional rules?

Ethics, much like integrity and morality, is hard to regulate. While providing guidelines is important, ethics can't be legislated. Perhaps it would be more effective for us to work on creating a culture of ethical conduct by educating people on existing rules, developing public expectations of ethical behavior from City officials, and promoting "honor" as an essential quality of a leader.

The mayor appears to believe that ethics should be regulated and not cultivated; in that case, I strongly suggest that we don't just look at professional contracts, but expand the ordinance to also include ethics rules for incentives, leasing contracts, land & personal asset dispositions, settlements, and campaign funds.

Recently, due to unnamed sources quoted in the media, my firm has been under scrutiny on the basis of potential perception of conflict of interest, and my name has been associated with ethics issues. Let me be clear, my company has been operating within the letter of law, competed fairly for every contract it received, and went above board on ethics rules.

To suggest that one Councilmember has enough power to influence contract awards from organizations such as VIA, whose board members are partially appointed by the City Council is far-fetched. VIA has a total of 11 board members, 5 appointed by the City, 3 appointed by the County, 2 appointed by the suburban Mayors and a Chairman appointed by the full board.

If the goal is to negatively affect my family's and employees' livelihood, the tactic may be successful. After all, why work with a firm that brings so much scrutiny and additional work related to open records request when there are other firms hungry for work in this slow economy?

If the goal is to punish me personally for expressing my independent views too frequently on City Council, for being skeptical on the mayor's Pre-K 4 SA initiative and recently opposing multi-million dollar tax payer-funded incentives for a "green" energy firm, the tactic got my attention.

If the goal is to use me as an example to show other Council members what would happen if one becomes too vocal, I think the tactic has worked.

If it is just the perception that we are worried about, we may find plenty of perception of conflict of interest in other areas. Perhaps we should look into the Pre-K 4 SA campaign fund and find out who made what contributions to the fund and who has received or stands to receive what contract and/or tax payer-funded incentives. And perhaps we should be asking when the leasing contracts for Pre-K 4 SA Centers were written and why.

It may be wishful thinking, but I would prefer to believe that most people who volunteer their time in public service are doing so for noble causes and that they are there to benefit the community they live in. Ethics policy should be a guide for good people to do the right thing and to punish the few who are in public service for self-serving reasons.

The mayor's policy assumes a culture where everyone is guilty and that we must have layers and layers of government bureaucracy, including a new Ethics Auditor, to watch over us. This presumption saddens me greatly.

The system worked, the problem is no one took it seriously. And the fix is not simply adding new rules.

As always, please contact my office with any questions or comments.

Respectfully,
W. Elisa Chan

[rynetwo]

Oh lord Castro is not going to like this...which makes me love her!

[JuanValdez]

[Merovee]

Originally Posted by Bo

Chan sent out an open letter, responding to this today. She raised some interesting points and highlighted the apparent political payback aspect of the story that we discussed above.

It comes off to me like a child caught in the act who begins telling, "that so and so did this, and so and so did that."

Or if the rule is going to be applied to me I want it applied to everyone else too.

Her harping over and over one of the mayor's initiatives makes her seem like a spoiled sport. Then claiming it could be retribution over that is just the icing on this cake of complaint.

She is sounding more and more guilty by the minute.

[chud]

Originally Posted by rynetwo

Oh lord Castro is not going to like this...which makes me love her!

+1. I like what she had to say in her statement.

[TrapperL]

I like this gal. Gotta love the "Don't tred on me" thing. But then I liked Castro until he came up with the Pre K scam. Now, he needs to go away. This city doesn't need more taxes and more Gov't. San Antonio wages are not near what they are in cities of the same size. Folks here are having the husband and wife working to support themselves and 2 kids and don't need the extra burden of politicians that can't seem to keep their hands out of our pockets.