Fact check: Did Fort Worth council member miss meetings, and pay himself from his campaign?
Fort Worth city council member Jared Williams doesn’t appear to have an attendance problem, but donations to his wife’s consulting company have raised questions about ethics violations.
Williams is running for re-election to the Fort Worth City Council District 6 seat after upsetting eight-term incumbent Jungus Jordan in the June 2021 runoff.
The claims about Williams came from two mailers sent out by Fort Worth Excellence PAC in support of Italia De La Cruz. Tonya Carter is also in the race.
The group alleged Williams was either late or absent from a third of city council meetings, and has personally enriched himself with campaign funds by using his own political consulting company.
A review of campaign finance filings finds Williams has paid Blackland & Meadows Consulting $11,400 from his campaign contributions since July 2021. All payments are listed as “campaign advising services,” on the forms Williams has filed with the Fort Worth city secretary office. Williams lists himself as a co-owner of the group on his LinkedIn Page.
According to the Texas Ethics Commission, a candidate or officeholder may not make a payment to their business “if the payment is for personal services rendered by the candidate or officeholder or by the spouse or dependent child of the candidate or officeholder.”
The consulting company is run and majority owned by Williams’ wife Scioscia Flowers, and that 86% of the money goes to direct voter outreach, he said
The company spends $250 per month to political consultant William Schlitz, who offers his services as an independent contractor.
Schlitz pointed to a seperate section of the ethics code that states the payments are allowed, “only if the payment does not exceed the amount necessary to reimburse the business for actual expenditures made by the business.”
“No one’s making money off of this,” Schlitz said, adding that neither Williams nor his wife draw a paycheck from money coming into the firm.
Williams pointed to his record of transparency, noting he was one of the first of the current sitting city council members to file a conflict of interest form with the city after taking a job with the Tarrant Area Food Bank.
Fort Worth Excellence PAC cited City Council minutes between June 22, 2021 and Feb. 21, 2023 to back up its claims about Williams’ attendance.
A Star-Telegram review of those minutes shows Williams was late or absent 12 times, or roughly 17% of the time, and attended virtually 10 times, roughly 14%.
Fort Worth Excellence PAC treasurer Fred Tate said in an email to the Star-Telegram that the group conflated virtual attendance with tardiness and absence.
Virtual attendance is allowable under the Texas Open Meetings Act, said city secretary Jannette Goodall in an email to the Star-Telegram. A council member is only considered absent if they didn’t attend in person or virtually, she added.
Early voting continues until May 2 with election day coming on May 6.
This story was originally published April 27, 2023 at 5:00 PM.
CORRECTION: Fort Worth Excellence PAC is based in Fort Worth and its treasurer has an office in Colleyville. An earlier version of this story was incorrect.
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