{"id":455219,"date":"2026-10-03T11:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T11:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/455219\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T11:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T11:32:09","slug":"houstons-financial-integrity-guru-got-a-15-hour-week-could-we-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/455219\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston’s financial integrity guru got a 15-hour week. Could we too?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thumbs down: All you office bosses out there cracking down on remote and hybrid workers, how about taking a page from Mayor John Whitmire? The Houston Chronicle reported in June that Chris Brown only swiped in eight times in 2024 and three times in 2025 while earning a salary of $127,321. He is working as \u2014 wait for it \u2014 Whitmire\u2019s senior advisor for financial integrity. (In other words: The guy the mayor picked to root out waste and corruption.) This week, Brown admitted to 15-hour work weeks<\/a>, claiming his work is \u201cproject- and output-based.\u201d So what if his output of emails was less than one per week<\/a>? Who really emails anymore? And what, really, is \u201cwork,\u201d anyways?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thumbs up: Remember how a year ago, Gov. Greg Abbott strong-armed Houston into removing the rainbow crosswalk in Montrose? A big hoorah to the LGBT leaders and City Council members who worked over months to establish a district to put up Pride banners. And kudos to Whitmire for personally paying $10,000<\/a> for the installation of ten Pride banners along Westheimer Boulevard between Taft and Montrose. Sure, the mayor could have saved himself from months of vitriol during public comments at City Hall meetings had he put up banners sooner. But we\u2019re proud that the city is showing our true colors once more.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thumbs up: Remember last month\u2019s kerfuffle over Republican candidate Bo French\u2019s racist tweet about University of Texas students? And how Gov. Abbott tsk-tsked but didn\u2019t actually withdraw his endorsement? This week, we learned that in fact, it\u2019s possible for a Republican to go too far even for Abbott. After video surfaced showing candidate David Flores<\/a> not just being stopped for a DUI, but also calling the cop the n-word and invoking the governor\u2019s endorsement. Did it matter to Abbott that Flores, who\u2019s running for Texas House seat in a super-Democratic district, doesn\u2019t have a prayer of winning, while Bo French might actually take a seat on the powerful Texas Railroad Commission? Surely not.<\/p>\n

Thumbs twiddled: Yay! Defying expectations once more, the Astros set a record by winning their division. Boo! The record they set was becoming the first team to make the playoffs without actually winning more games than they lost. And then, to top it off, they got swept by the White Sox.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thumbs up: At least, with all the professional sports teams that now call Houston home, hope springs eternal and there\u2019s always a new hero to root for \u2014 or, maybe even better, a GOAT to celebrate. The Houston Comets\u2019 new billboard<\/a> announces, \u201cShe\u2019s back,\u201d and it shows a woman\u2019s hand gripping a basketball while displaying astonishingly long silver nails and four championship rings. Is that hand a shout-out to Sheryl Swoopes, who in the Comets\u2019 prior life in Houston led them to four championships? We\u2019d sure like to think so.<\/p>\n

Thumbs down: We\u2019d thought that Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general and Republican nominee for Senate, always toed the MAGA line, which means, above all, never, ever criticizing the president. But this week, according to the New York Times<\/a>, Paxton said at a private gathering that the Trump-led GOP convention actually hurt Republican candidates. Paxton\u2019s campaign denies that he said it, and public post-convention polls show no real difference either way. Sen. John Cornyn \u2014 who lost in the primary to the Trump-endorsed Paxton \u2014\u00a0 gleefully called<\/a> Paxton\u2019s statement \u201canother self-inflicted wound.\u201d Or maybe Paxton\u2019s jet-setting lifestyle<\/a> \u2014 all that time at ski resorts and California wineries \u2014 gave him the perspective that it\u2019s finally time to put some distance between himself and the president.<\/p>\n

Thumbs up: Houston-based fiction writer Bryan Washington was named a MacArthur fellow<\/a>, receiving what\u2019s commonly known as the \u201cgenius grant.\u201d The announcement celebrated Washington for \u201ccapturing the fragile beauty of modern relationships in stories shaped by place, memory, and the quiet rituals of daily care.\u201d Oh, how Houston could use more of that these days.<\/p>\n

Thumbs up: Amazing: Sen. Ted Cruz, who made his name nationally by gumming Congress \u2014 for instance, by reading \u201cGreen Eggs and Ham\u201d during a one-man filibuster \u2014 is now passing bills. His Protect College Sports Act<\/a> strikes us as a mixed bag. But bipartisan sausage-making is at least better than total gridlock and dysfunction in D.C.<\/p>\n