HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg says she's turning over the public corruption investigation into former employees of political rival Lina Hidalgo to the Texas attorney general's office.
Three ex-staffers in the county judge's office face charges in the Elevate Strategies big-rigging case.
“They are charged with illegally steering an $11 million contract for COVID outreach to Elevate Strategies, a one-person company with zero healthcare experience,” Ogg said at a news conference Thursday.
Former chief of staff Alex Triantaphyllis, former policy director Wallis Nader and former policy aide Aaron Dunn are accused of helping Elevate Strategies by providing the inside information about the contract weeks before a request for proposal was open to the public.
Triantaphyllis, Nader and Dunn are charged with misuse of official information and tampering with records.
The staffers reportedly began communicating with Elevate Strategies CEO Felicity Pereyra about the vaccine community outreach in January 2021, a month before a request for bids was made public, according to a search warrant.
Four companies ultimately applied for the project after the request for proposal became public in February 2021.
The contract was awarded to Elevate Strategies in June 2021 but terminated in September 2021 due to the company's inexperience with public health outreach and alleged ties to local Democratic party officials.
In a statement, Paxton said his office agreed to join the investigation.
“Our prosecutors and investigators are the best in the State. They handle every case with utmost professionalism. In this case as in all others, we will seek truth and justice,” Paxton said.
Hidalgo claimed previously that it was within her power to award the contract to whomever she chose, but instead, she decided to allow for bids. She said the investigation was part of a political vendetta by Ogg.
"This is the same politics she's been playing for years," Hidalgo said in a media briefing in November 2023. "She's abused the power of her office the way that a bully abuses size on the playground."
Hidalgo endorsed Ogg's opponent and former prosecutor Sean Teare in the March primary and he ultimately won by a large margin.
During Thursday's news conference, Ogg referenced Teare, saying it raises major concerns for the public and how corruption trials are handled.
"One candidate, my own party’s nominee for district attorney, Sean Teare, publicly stated that the cases are nothing more than political prosecution, despite the fact that he’s never had access to the evidence in these cases and despite his own conflict of interest," Ogg said. "Teare is currently employed by the Cogdell law firm, defending one of the three charged defendants, Alex Triantaphyllis, and Teare sought and received the enthusiastic endorsement of the Harris County judge, whose office is at the center of the controversy and ongoing criminal investigation.”
Teare, however, said if he's elected in November, he would recuse himself from investigating the Elevated Strategies case and hand it over to a DA in another county.
You can see Ogg's full news conference below.
Hidalgo released a statement Thursday following the news conference. Below is the statement in full:
"I’m not surprised at all, just even more disappointed. DA Ogg showed us months ago the political nature of her work when she secretly hired the general counsel of the Texas Republican Party as the lead prosecutor – all during my re-election. True to form, the DA still has only baseless claims and now she wants to keep the story alive by handing her case to Ken Paxton, who routinely targets me and Harris County. In her parting days, DA Ogg has sealed her legacy by sending this vendetta to somebody who is constantly engaged in political attacks against me and Harris County. I’ve said from the beginning that this is political in nature and what she did just underscores the point.”
Hidalgo added under the header ‘Of note.”
- "Sean Teare, likely to be the DA after DA Ogg’s term ends in December 2024, months ago pledged publicly to send the case elsewhere, to an office with no ties to the parties involved, given Judge Hidalgo supported his campaign (Houston Public Media. “Texas judge rules against AG Ken Paxton’s lawsuit that would halt Harris County guaranteed income program.” April 18, 2024)"
- "Paxton’s lack of impartiality is currently in full display as he targets Uplift Harris, a Guaranteed Income Program in Harris County that he’s allowed for years in other Texas cities and another county. (Houston Landing. “Teare Says He Would Recuse Harris County DA’s Office From Case Against Hidalgo Staffers.” March 21, 2024)"
- "Richard Hooper, now the general counsel of the Texas Republican Party, went as far as to help draft the search warrant and determine what the grand jury was told (Houston Landing. “Houston GOP Attorney worked on DA’s Contract Probe.” January 11, 2024.)"
Teare released a statement Thursday following the news conference. Below is the statement in full:
"By a three to one margin, voters rejected the politicized way that our prosecutor’s office has been run. Unfortunately, Kim Ogg ignored the voters and called a press conference to attack her opponents and make clear that fighting political feuds is more important than finishing her term ensuring justice for victims across our county. I have been clear from day one: we must restore integrity to the DA’s Office. Even though I’ve never had any involvement in this case, I have promised to immediately recuse myself and refer this case to another District Attorney to ensure it receives fair and impartial treatment. These cases were tainted from the beginning, the second they hired the Republican Party’s general counsel to lead the investigation. Now, they are being handed over to the most political prosecutor in the state, who will work in tandem with a politically motivated DA.
Throughout my campaign, I emphasized the need to remove politics from the District Attorney's Office. If I were in office, I would have advocated for an independent review by a DA's office with no connections to the parties involved to ensure transparency and fairness. It's crucial that cases of public importance are handled with the utmost integrity and without any hint of political influence.
The people of Harris County deserve a criminal justice system that prioritizes truth and justice above political interests. I remain committed to upholding these principles and working towards a system that is free from political malfeasance."
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Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis, also a Democrat, reacted to Ogg's announcement.
"Our outgoing District Attorney’s decision to hand over the Elevate Strategies case to Ken Paxton is a new low for Kim Ogg. The future of three young public servants, who were already derailed by this political witch hunt, has now been handed over to a hyper-partisan office with an axe to grind. Giving Ken Paxton the opportunity to undermine Harris County, yet again, is just another feather in Ken Paxton’s cap and red meat for his MAGA base. The voters overwhelmingly rejected this sort of behavior by Kim Ogg in March by historic margins, and this is the culmination of a career that will be remembered more for vindictive political investigations than advancing public safety."
Ogg denied that her actions were politically motivated.
“People hate public corruption and it is the duty of a district attorney to never sweep it under the rug," Ogg said. “We can’t have one set of rules for the politically powerful and another set of rules for the powerless."