We’re just now hearing about it.
Chris Hollins
An investigation Mayor John Whitmire initiated into Controller Chris Hollins’ decision to solicit sponsorships for a city event was “not sustained” by the city’s Office of Inspector General, city records show.
Whitmire in October 2024 called a news conference to announce that he was asking investigators to probe the “unacceptable” sponsorships Hollins was inviting for his office’s annual investor conference, saying it was “the appearance of pay to play.”
A conference pamphlet listed sponsorships from $10,000 up to $100,000, with increasing perks, including a “private dinner with the controller” for top donors. Whitmire said at the time that he had gotten calls from banks who were concerned about being able to work with the city if they didn’t fork over money to sponsor the event.
A list of OIG cases and their outcomes the Houston Chronicle obtained through a public records request shows the mayor’s office referred the program for investigation the day after Whitmire’s news conference.
The case was quietly closed Oct. 16, the file shows, and listed as “not sustained.” Neither the mayor’s nor controller’s office has publicly noted it.
Whitmire’s office did not return a request for comment on the investigation’s results. His office and spokesperson have not returned any written requests or phone calls for comment from the Chronicle since Aug. 17.
Hollins, who had reacted to the mayor’s press conference by calling the issue “a huge nothing burger that is meant to distract from the mayor’s failed leadership,” said the OIG ruling was a “pretty obvious outcome.”
“The allegation was unserious at the onset, and it remained unserious throughout,” Hollins said Thursday.
[…]
“That is the nature of scandal these days,” [UH poli sci professor Brandon] Rottinghaus said. “People forget these corruption and scandal allegations fairly quickly, and the herd moves on.”
Hollins said he didn’t address the case’s closure publicly because his office was busy with more important matters.
“I said from the beginning this was a joke and an embarrassment, and so that’s how we thought about it,” Hollins said. “We never wanted to breathe any life into it because we knew it was dumb.”
See here for the background. I had forgotten this was a thing, which validates Hollins’ decision to let the sleeping dog lie. Hollins made his own request to the OIG to include the Mayor’s sponsorship requests for the State of the City address in its investigation, claiming the only difference between the two was where the funds were going. The story doesn’t say anything about that, so my guess is that the OIG never took it up. Which, also fair. I called this “the opening of the 2027 Mayoral race” at the time, but it seems clear that Hollins is running for re-election as Controller at this time. So in every way this ended up a total nothingburger.