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Phyllis Jones’ Conflict of Interest Disclosure leads to more questions

Listener: Pratt on Texas
Category: Lubbock City Politics
Date: 28 Apr 2008
Time: 11:49:13 -0700
Remote Name: 68.91.16.225

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Phyllis Jones’ Conflict of Interest Disclosure leads to more questions
Did councilwoman Jones attempt to mislead City legal staff on her role with the Cactus Courtyard 
Pratt on Texas, 28 April 2008

Lubbock - According to documents from the City Secretary’s office, Lubbock councilwoman Phyllis Jones did not disclose her ownership or corporate officer status in the Cactus Courtyard in her Local Government Officer Conflicts Disclosure Statement filed on 14 March 2008.

Jones claims her association with the Cactus Courtyard, which abuts the city’s proposed visitor center, was not a conflict of interest in votes she cast related to the visitor center. And, Jones’ has said that she had a legal opinion confirming this belief.

Note these facts in consideration of her claim of no conflict of interest: 

1. Jones’ involvement with the Cactus Courtyard on the disclosure form is listed as “Employment of Phyllis Jones Event Coordinator” - an employee not an investor or member of corporate management.
2. In an application for various liquor licenses with the TABC in 2007, Jones is listed as a corporate officer for Cactus Courtyard, not as merely an employee or “Event Coordinator”.
3. In a recent interview with KCBD television, Jones identified herself as an investor in the Cactus Courtyard – not just an employee, not just a corporate officer, but an investor with capital at risk.

Did Jones purposely attempt to mislead the public, as well as the City of Lubbock legal staff, by declaring herself as only an employee of the Cactus Courtyard when in fact she was a corporate officer and an investor in the enterprise?

Legal opinions given as to whether or not Jones’ votes on the visitor center would be a conflict of interest likely relied upon her disclosed role with the Cactus Courtyard. As only an employee, with no ownership stake or corporate control, it could be argued that she had no direct interest in the business and thus would not have a conflict of interest.

However, as the corporate secretary and an investor in the business, Jones’ relationship to the Cactus Courtyard, and how it relates to the visitor center, is entirely different. If Jones’ informed legal staff of these deeper ties to the new depot district enterprise, why were they not included in the official, public disclosure statement?

Additionally, there are questions about the timing of the disclosure statement. Considering that votes related to the visitor center, including the purchase of the building housing the South Beach Club, had been major political events in Lubbock throughout 2007, why did Jones not file a conflict of interest disclosure until almost the end of the first quarter of 2008?

See the TABC document here (pdf)
See the Conflicts Disclosure Statement here (pdf) Statement copy provided courtesy of James Clark and NewsRadio 1420.

© 2008, Pratt on Texas