Team Katy ‘Correction’ Reports Include Support From PBK, Parkside Capital
Compiled From News Reports · January 3, 2011 · 7 Comments
Two correction affidavits have been filed by the Team Katy political action committee, reporting work done by PBK Architecture in creating the pro bond committee’s website as well as a $5,000 corporate campaign contribution from Parkside Capital, LLC that was omitted from earlier reports.
CAMPAIGN REPORT CORRECTIONS – The Team Katy political action committee has filed a pair of correction affidavits to earlier campaign finance reports of its efforts to promote the passage of the recent Katy ISD bond issue.
The affidavits correct earlier campaign finance reports the political action committee filed regarding its effort to support passage of the $459.7 million Katy ISD bond issue on the Nov. 2 ballot.
The corrections, which were obtained by InstantNewsKaty through an open records request, were filed with Katy ISD by Team Katy campaign treasurer Joe Simmons.
The corrected reports were dated Oct. 8 and Oct. 28.
In the Oct. 8 correction affidavit, which covered the period of Aug. 4 through Sept. 23, Simmons added a contribution from “Chris Wailes/PBK” in the amount of $27.14 with the notation “domain registration and hosting webpage.”
On the cover page, Simmons said the in-kind contribution was not previously reported because he was unaware of it.
“Original report omitted initial work done on the creation of a website in registering the domain. Omission occurred because the treasurer was unaware of any such work being done during the time period,” Simmons wrote under the Explanation of Correction portion of the affidavit. “The work was discovered subsequent to filing the initial report and is now being added to Schedule C. The error was omitted in good faith and is now reported in a timely manner.”
The addition of the website work increased the total political contributions reported for the Aug. 4 – Sept. 23 reporting period from $7,352.00 to $7,379.14.
In a story published Oct. 8, InstantNewsKaty broke the news that PBK had registered the pro-bond website www.isupportkisd.com through the GoDaddy domain registration. According to registration records, the administrative and technical contract for the website was a PBK employee named Chris Wailes.
A day after the story was published, the registration was changed to show Simmons and Team Katy as the organizational contract for the website.
PBK was a contractor for a number of major Katy ISD school construction projects in recent years, several of which are prominently displayed on the PBK website. Included in those projects were the Katy High School auditorium, Morton Ranch High School and Seven Lakes High School.
Messages requesting comment from Wailes and PBK were never returned.
The second correction affidavit, dated Oct. 28, added a corporate contribution of $5,000 from Parkside Capital, LLC of Houston and corrected an $8 math error.
Simmons explained the omission of the contribution on the original report was “an oversight.”
“A corporate contribution of $5,000 was omitted from the original Schedule C. The correct amount should read $29,963.35. This was an oversight by the treasurer,” Simmons wrote in the affidavit. “Both errors were done in good faith and are being reported now in a timely manner.”
According to the company’s website, “Parkside Capital, LLC, the general partner of Parkside Capital Land Fund, sources land investment opportunities in Houston, Texas, as well as Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas, Texas.”
Mary McGarr says:
January 3, 2011 at 12:56 pm
Let’s see, how do we get around the fact that an employee of PBK started the bond support TEAM KATY PAC? Oh yeah, let’s just say he made an in-kind contribution and maybe no one will notice! Also, since it wasn’t over $50, why was it reported anyway, unless….
Isn’t Joe Simmons, the TEAM KATY PAC treasurer, (and 2010 Bond Committee member) the President of the Brazos Valley Teachers Credit Union? I’ll bet he hasn’t had any instances of $5,000 “oversights” or “$8 math errors” at HIS place of work!