Alvarado testifies

City Council Member Carol Alvarado took her turn before the grand jury today.

City Councilwoman Carol Alvarado testified for three hours today before a Harris County grand jury investigating improper bonuses at City Hall.

Alvarado, who supervised four Office of Mayor Pro Tem employees fired over alleged payroll padding, testified voluntarily. She is not implicated in any wrongdoing related to the $143,000 in bonuses city officials say were unauthorized.

"I answered the questions and told the truth," Alvarado said as she left the grand jury room at 12:35 p.m. "That's what I was looking forward to doing."

It's pretty simple at this point. Either the Fired Four say something that convinces the grand jury (and DA Chuck Rosenthal) to go after Alvarado, or they don't. Either the prospect of an indictment goes away for her, or Rusty Hardin gets to do some heavy lifting. Alvarado went into the jury room not a target of the investigation, despite statements from the former employees' attorneys that she knew what they were doing. If she comes out of it the same way, she can really start to put this behind her. If not, her troubles are just beginning. That's about all there is to it.

For what it's worth, I think she's at her journey's end, not its beginning. But you never know, and I'm sure she'll sleep better when it's over. We'll see.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on September 27, 2006 to Local politics | TrackBack