Houston Business Connections Newspaper©

Cash Deposits and Donations from Alleged Boyfriend of Mayor Turner Could Be Evidence of $470 million Bid-Rigging Scheme

AUBREY R. TAYLOR REPORTS©

On April 11, 2023, attorney Rachel Hooper filed a lawsuit on behalf of Chris Pappas, 4 Families of Hobby, LLC, and Pappas Restaurants, Inc., versus the City of Houston, Texas, and Areas HOU JV, LLC, in Houston, Texas. If you’re interested, the CASE NUMBER is 2023-22872.

The Plaintiffs’ Original Verified Petition included a declaratory judgment and their application for a temporary restraining order, temporary injunction, and permanent injunction.

On April 14, 2023, Judge Beau Miller, denied Pappas Restaurants’ request to remain in Hobby Airport while its lawsuit against the City of Houston works its way through the courts. However, that doesn’t mean that things are going to work out in the favor of the City as things continue to unfold.

Judge Beau Miller, is an excellent judge, and from everything I know about Judge Miller, he’s fair, impartial, and a seeker of the truth. As it stands now, Judge Miller has ordered Pappas Restaurants and the City of Houston into mediation and has set a hearing date of April 26, for the two sides to come back before him in the courtroom.

As for Chris Pappas, he doesn’t have a problem with being ordered into mediation. “We think it was a unique solution on the part of the judge to order the parties to mediation,” he said in a published report.

Yesterday, was interesting, but going forward, some ugly truths are going to come out related to how the procurement process works at the City of Houston.

It appears that Pappas Restaurants is looking to make the procurement process more transparent, and is alleging that the city treated them unfairly during the procurement process. Pappas is alleging that the city applied unstated evaluation criteria when they were reviewing the proposals. And Pappas is also alleging that a misapplication of other criteria took place along the way.

In a mistake that could come back to haunt the city, the lawsuit claims that William-Paul Thomas, a mayoral aid, and city council liaison, placed a call to Pappas in November 2019 to discuss the contract, which is a violation of a City of Houston rule against discussions between bidders and city officials during a period when a city contract is working its way through the procurement process.

According to a published report, in a voicemail left by William-Paul Thomas, on Chris Pappas’s phone, he stated, “had a great meeting with a couple of folks and I’m going to share with you some of the thoughts we had going forward.”

From what I understand, Chris Pappas did not return William-Paul Thomas’s phone call that was placed to Pappas during the first round of the bidding process for the Hobby Contract.

In case you don’t know, “THE LAWSUIT” filed by Pappas Restaurant contains a damning timeline that appears to show what attorney Rachel Hooper has labeled as a flawed solicitation process.

On September 27, 2019, the First solicitation was issued by the City of Houston, according to (PAGE- 8) of the lawsuit.

On November 25, 2019, William-Paul Thomas calls Chris Pappas about the airport concessions during the “No Contact Period” which means what it says.

On September 16, 2022, the Second solicitation got canceled by the City of Houston, which can be reviewed on (PAGE-8) of the lawsuit.

On September 30, 2022, the “Third solicitation was issued by the City of Houston.

On March 8, 2023, Areas was awarded the $475 million Hobby Airport concessions contract.

Now, remember, “THE LAWSUIT” filed by attorney Rachel Hooper states, “On Monday, November 25, 2019, three days before Thanksgiving and during the “No Contact Period” clearly outlined in the Request for Proposal for Solicitation No. S83-T28909, William Paul-Thomas, employed at the time by the City in the Mayor’s Office as a Director of Council Relations, called Chris Pappas, CEO of Pappas, at his home. Mr. Pappas did not return this call.”

According to “THE LAWSUIT” William-Paul Thomas left a message that stated, “Oh, Mr. Pappas, this is William Paul-Thomas, Mayor Sylvester Turner’s Office. I wanted to visit with you regarding the upcoming airport concession at Hobby Airport. Um, I had a great meeting with a couple of folks and I’m going to share with you some of the thoughts that we had going forward. Please give me a call at your convenience.”

As you should know already, around the same time William-Paul Thomas placed his phone call to Chris Pappas, he was engaging in some illegal activities with city of Houston vendors which he pleaded guilty to in federal court.

Anyways, if we fast forward, “On June 30, 2022, Mr. Thomas was charged by criminal information in the Southern District of Texas with conspiracy to commit theft or bribery concerning programs receiving Federal funds.” And for the record, William-Paul Thomas pled guilty on July 25, 2022.

Do you think that William-Paul Thomas called Chris Pappas at his home to request a meeting to just last and talk? Well, if so, you’re sadly mistaken. How can I say this? Well, remember William-Paul Thomas was employed by the City of Houston and acting as the Director of Council Relations, and the right-hand man for Mayor Sylvester when he place his phone call to Chris Pappas at his home on Monday, November 2019, which was during the “NO CONTACT PERIOD” and was a criminal act.

Attorney Rachel Hooper is requesting that 4 Families and Pappas be awarded a judgment declaring that the award is void because the City:

*Failed to comply with the statutory procedures for competitive sealed proposals;

*Failed to consider the criteria to determine the best value for the City as required by state and municipal laws; and

*Failed to conduct the Solicitation in accordance with the City’s administrative policy for requests and proposals; and

*Failed to follow the Open Meeting Act requirements.

*Violated globally accepted public procurement standards, fraud, lack of procurement integrity and responsibility, and under general principles of fairness.