Houston ethics committee considering rule changes after Mayor Whitmire’s ‘pay

One month after Mayor John Whitmire and Controller Chris Hollins sparred over corruption allegations, the Houston City Council's ethics committee is working on updates to the city's ethics rules.

In mid-October, Whitmire accused the city's chief financial officer of engaging in "pay-to-play" by soliciting donations ahead of an investor conference. Top donors attended a private dinner with Hollins, and the funds flowed to a nonprofit. Whitmire requested an investigation by the city's Office of Inspector General.

Hollins fired back, calling Whitmire a "walking conflict of interest" and pointing out the mayor's annual State of the City event solicits donations. Hollins asked the inspector general to include that event in its investigation.

The fight could lead to changes to Chapter 18 , the part of city code governing ethics and conflicts of interest.

Since the spat between Hollins and Whitmire, the city council's ethics committee — which reviews Chapter 18 issues — has canceled two meetings. Council member Joaquin Martinez co-chairs the committee.

"We want to make sure that we have a fruitful conversation," Martinez said. "We've been discussing Chapter 18 a lot, and we have some revisions that we've been working on. We just haven't really been able to tighten that up. Once we get that tightened up, then we are looking at having those conversations — and then any other conversations that may arise at that time as well.

"We don't investigate these ethics issues," he added. "We more so review them and then make sure that we put in place any kind of guardrail that prevents it in the future."

The only remaining meeting on the ethics committee's 2024 calendar is scheduled for Dec. 19.