6/17/2008

TxDOT's Executive Director is Corrupt

In February a reliable source within TxDOT told me that TxDOT Executive Director Amadeo Saenz had been meeting with Stacey Dukes Rhone (sister of Toller Rep. Dawnna Dukes) and they had been “milking the system”. I’ve since learned that Amadeo Saenz was originally from the Pharr district, and his corrupt crew has plead guilty to bribes.

The source told me that Stacy Dukes-Rhone, through her company Grier-Bankett Consulting Inc. “arranged” for her sister, Rep. Dawnna Dukes, to receive a subcontract to provide the "field office" for the MLK Feasibility Study headed by TxDOT. Some believe the field office wasn't needed for the project.

According to the MLK Feasibility Study web site, the field office location was 3218 E Martin Luther King Jr Blvd (see photo from Feb. 2008 above). Travis County tax records confirms that this building is owned by D M DUKES & ASSOCIATES, which is Rep. Dawnna Dukes company, which is actually listed as an approved TxDOT contractor HERE.

I asked myself, “Why would an Executive Director, one of highest ranking officials in the TxDOT (see the TxDOT organizational chart above), EVER need to meet directly with a contractor?”.

And don’t forget, this contractor, Stacey Dukes Rhone, has received NO BID CONTRACTSone of the no bid contracts was given to Rhone the morning after her sister State Representative Dawnna Dukes voted for toll roads.

I then wondered if any of the meetings happened to be part of the public record.

My request for public documents revealed that Saenz and Rhone definitely met twice, once on June 8th, 2007 and November 27th, 2007. At least twice that we know of, they could have met outside of TxDOT’s office, or had meetings over the phone as well.

I also asked for the sign in sheets.

The meeting in June lasted 1 hour and 10 minutes. And get this, TxDOT claims it has lost the sign in sheets for November 27thAs well as the whole last quarter of 2007, including November 2007. Who is covering up what at TxDOT?

Another source told me about Executive Director Amadeo Saenz being involved with the “Garth Brooks Tickets” investigation, in which TxDOT investigated it’s own employees getting Garth Brooks Tickets as illegal free gifts.

The TxDOT investigative report I received was an absolute joke.

It was thinner than you would ever believe at 1.5 pages, and it didn’t include one actual name! I smelled a cover up, so I asked for the sworn affidavits that were taken for the so called “audit”.

TxDOT has appealed my request for the affidavits with the Attorney General’s office. TxDOT auditors have purposely overlooked and have covered up while defending officials.

Your tax dollars at work folks! - more to come.

Other must read articles:

TxDOT Executive Director, With Ties to Indicted, To Resign Within the Year, Says Source.
(THE HIGHEST COMMENTED POST ON MY BLOG TO DATE -
TXDOT EMPLOYEES SPILL THE BEANS DAILY HERE!)






3 comments:

Anonymous said...

If it smells like shit, something shitty is going on. You are correct sir, Saenz is corrupt as hell!

Anonymous said...

This makes me sick to my stomach. Is every state as crooked as Texas?

Anonymous said...

No suprise!!! Until the tie between the governor, the TxDOT commission and TxDOT management is severed, the corruption will continue. Saenz, his deputy executive directors, the governor, and all the TxDOT commission members are greedy thieves who will be indited. Their day will come and they will be held accountable by the law.