Tom Whitehurst

Preventing conflict of interest

As the port commission was deciding whom to award a telephone system contract, commissioner Tony Pletcher raised a larger issue.
   "There've been questions of conflict of interest. I own some stock in Southwestern Bell. Would it be a conflict if I voted on this?"
   Southwestern Bell had won the port staff's recommendation, although it wasn't the low bidder. Nor was it the highest. This wasn't a simple lowest-bidder issue. Some of the companies included more doodads in their proposals, and the staff made a recommendation based on the features offered, the equipment and level of technical support. Among the desired features was Internet telephone service capability, which Southwestern Bell but not all of the bidders included.
   Separate contracts
   Those were the technical issues. Pletcher, a lawyer who is the port's newest commissioner, brought up an issue that has been mentioned a lot lately at the port. Commissioner Kenneth Berry recently asked the port staff to review a lease extension granted to Tor Minerals, commissioner Bernard Paulson's company, and the partnership between commissioner Bill Dodge and Tomas Duran, who is the port's insurance agent.
   Paulson refrained from discussion and voting on the lease. Dodge has said that the insurance brokerage partnership he entered with Duran in October is separate from the insurance contracts that Duran obtained before the partnership, which would include Duran's business with the port.
   Dodge has said he had five lawyers review the partnership for potential conflicts, including the port's lawyer, and all five found no conflicts. Port staff, at a recent finance committee meeting not attended by Dodge, informed Berry that they reviewed the situation and found no conflict.
   Is there a conflict?
   All of this had transpired before the March 13 meeting at which Pletcher disclosed his stock ownership, and asked the port's attorneys if it posed a conflict.
   The answer: Only if he owned at least 10 percent of the company.
   "I can assure you that I don't," Pletcher said, to the amusement of those in attendance.
   He pressed further, asking if it created the appearance of conflict.
   The answer: If the company were considerably smaller than Southwestern Bell, it might.
   Pletcher went as far as to ask Charlie Marshall, a representative of Integrity Communications, whose bid was the lowest, if he'd have concerns about Pletcher voting.
   Marshall answered that he wouldn't, and that he had confidence in the integrity of those voting.
   "I really wanted to be certain that number one, we didn't have some policy that would require me to disqualify myself," Pletcher said afterward. "And I know I didn't have a 10 percent interest, for God's sake. I have some SBC stock in my pension plan that I've had for years. But there are a lot of issues that have to do with appearances of conflict and I wanted to be sure that we didn't have policies that have to do with appearances of conflict.
   "I have served as chair of the grievance committee for the State Bar of Texas. Lawyer conflicts are extremely important matters governed by State Bar rules. We lawyers have a different set of rules from most everybody else. So the lawyer conflicts are things that are very important legal and ethical concerns and I think that they're very different than government agencies.
   "I was really trying to get a feel for how far they go in government service and I don't think they're very specific. And if they were, then a whole lot of the issues from the president on down to the Port of Corpus Christi would be better served in avoiding situations they should stay away from.
   "You have to feel your way through, first, what is legally required, and separately, what is morally required. And I think that knowing the legal boundary is one thing. And you need to know in your gut that what you're doing is acting fair."
  
  

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