Email Author Tim Fleck

1998 Stories by Tim Fleck

• Santa's Push Cards

  published December 31, 1998

  Aspirants for Houston City Council are always thinking up new and ingenious ways to get a foot in the City Hall door, but attorney Gordon Quan may... More >>

• Slipping Under the Bar Radar

  published December 31, 1998

  You figure the three lawyers representing the State Bar of Texas felt pretty stupid. A Harris County jury deliberated little more than a half-hour... More >>

• Pass the Gas for Garza

  published December 24, 1998

  You can't fault Enron Oil & Gas chief executive Forrest E. Hoglund for lack of enthusiasm about recently elected Railroad Commissioner Tony Garza,... More >>

• Let's Go Lobby

  published December 24, 1998

  With the state legislative session set to unfold in the new year, some of the best bullshitters in Texas, a.k.a. lobbyists, are honing their... More >>

• Coming Down to the Liar

  published December 17, 1998

  Former city councilman Ben Reyes dabbed wearily at his shadowed eyes and momentarily seemed on the verge of tears. As a defendant in the city hall... More >>

• Pass the Gasfor Garza

  published December 17, 1998

  You can't fault Enron Oil & Gas chief executive Forrest E. Hoglund for lack of enthusiasm about recently elected Railroad Commissioner Tony Garza,... More >>

• Balancing the Bench

  published December 10, 1998

  Texas Governor George Bush now has a chance to address the huge racial imbalance in the Harris County judiciary. Whether he does or not depends on... More >>

• The Thoughts of Chairman Brown

  published December 10, 1998

  Mayor Lee P. Brown must be getting tired of hearing that his administration can't communicate, because at a recent senior staff confab he unveiled... More >>

• Shaping the Council to Come

  published December 3, 1998

  While one holiday cycle is gathering momentum, the city's currently officeless politicos are already thinking about the choice electoral presents... More >>

• Altered Statements

  published December 3, 1998

  Annual financial disclosure statements required of city of Houston elected officials and some employees are hardly the most revealing public... More >>

• Betti's Last Stand

  published November 26, 1998

  After the umpteenth playing in court of a videotape in which she tells an FBI undercover informant in early 1996 that they are involved in a... More >>

• Brother, Can You Spare a Vanity Video?

  published November 19, 1998

  While he was alive, Houston's greatest business and political godfather, Jesse Jones, knew better than anyone how to control a municipality... More >>

• Vested Interests

  published November 19, 1998

  Every so often our cup of civic hypocrisy overflows, and The Insider feels the urge to share the bounty with readers and purge it from our... More >>

• No Room at the Rice

  published November 12, 1998

  The Insider's recent exploration of the politics and finances of the Rice ["Castles for Welfare Kings," October 15] provoked at least one... More >>

• GOP Sweeps Week

  published November 12, 1998

  In a darkened side room off the Crystal Ballroom at the Rice Hotel, the crinkled, bearded face of former Texas lieutenant governor Bill Hobby... More >>

• Davidian Branches Out

  published November 5, 1998

  Former Houston Chronicle reporter Geoff Davidian's work at the paper early this decade -- particularly his pieces on slave women held at a local... More >>

• Investigating the Investigation

  published October 29, 1998

  Critics of a Harris County grand jury's vote to clear six Houston police officers of homicide in the shooting death of Mexican national Pedro... More >>

• The More Things Change

  published October 29, 1998

  About 200 people summoned by the Justice for Pedro Oregon Coalition surrounded a makeshift podium in Market Square Park last week for a rally... More >>

• Rodney Made Me Do It

  published October 22, 1998

  Here's evidence that perhaps Mayor Lee Brown's staff has a little too much time on its hands. A memo from Brown's chief of staff Jay Aiyer... More >>

• Judicial Arts Endowment

  published October 22, 1998

  Civil Judge John Devine is a self-proclaimed religious conservative, and he's gone to great lengths to decorate his courtroom to showcase his... More >>

• Castles for Welfare Kings

  published October 15, 1998

  Welfare-reform rhetoric pervades the stump speeches of both Democratic and Republican politicians these days, as the public gets down on lazy poor... More >>

• Farmer Yarbrough ?

  published October 15, 1998

  In terms of improbable candidacies, this one would be at the top of this fall's statewide ballot, except that the hopeful's name doesn't appear.... More >>

• Airhead Journalism Alert!

  published October 8, 1998

  With its premiere issue, the glossy giveaway City Moves -- Houston's Y2K Magazine has already secured a prominent place in the annals of the... More >>

• No, No, Annette!

  published October 1, 1998

  In her four years as a family court judge in Harris County, 48-year-old Republican Annette Galik has presided over a stream of divorce and... More >>

• Bum Deal?

  published September 17, 1998

  As restaurateur Irma Galvan rose to address the Houston City Council committee on economic and community development last week, most everyone in... More >>