February 12, 2009; updated March 2, 2009
The Travis County Green Party released the following Public Statement, regarding the task that Bill Holloway, our late co-chair, was working on at the time of his death. In fact, 3 weeks before his death, he gave the documents cited in the Statement to the Travis County District Attorney. Here is the Statement:
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The Green Party, and the Citizens of Texas, trust that decisions made by Public Officials about expenditure(s) of tax dollars represent a sacred agreement: Public expectation that our elected and appointed 'public servants' will honor that trust with honesty, integrity and accountability!
It is with that overall understanding and expectation that the Travis County Green Party referred thisletter - which raises questions in connection with failure and/or refusal by officials of the City of Austin to comply with the mandates of Title 18 US Code requiring action on violations of criminal statutes - to the Travis County District Attorney's office on 17 December 2008. The attached document requested inquiry and appropriate action(s)!
It is with some degree of concern therefore that, as of this date, we find ourselves in the situation of not having received a written response - not even a written acknowledgment - from Travis County District Attorney's office to the attached document requesting an inquiry into the specifics.
Finally, we request - given the serious questions concerning violations of civil and criminal statutes reflected in the accompanying letter (and the voluminous well-documented attachments) - the Travis County District Attorney to provide (1) a written acknowledgment of receipt of this request for an in-depth investigation, including (2) a target date for a comprehensive Report to the Citizens of Austin/Travis County - and well prior to our May 2009 City of Austin elections!
Charles Wukasch
Co-Chair
Travis County Green Party
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The failure and/or refusal of City and County officials to respond - as required by law - to the questions and issues raised by the Travis County Green Party and the Gray Panthers with regard to possible criminal conduct in connection with the disposition of Federal funds and bond money (specifically, $55,000,000 in housing bonds) poses three further questions:
(1) What are they hiding?
(2) Why and to what extent should the public place confidence in the proper use of Federal stimulus funds placed at the disposal of these same "public servants"?
(3) Shouldn't these still-unresolved questions concerning possible abuse (more properly termed "corruption", perhaps?) be a major focus of the upcoming May 2009 municipal election?
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The complete documentation package is available for public examination.
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On March 1, 2009, Allissa Chambers, the owner of the house in question, sent a message to City Manager Mark Ott, several council members, and several Austin staff members. That message contained these documents (which you may view by clicking their names below):
* Letter from Allissa Chambers to Mark Ott
* The six attachments cited in the letter, collected into one document
Then on March 2, Ms. Chambers sent this second message to City Manager Ott, containing additional information.
