Whitmire ran as the mayor of transparency, promising to fight corruption; so far, he’s been one of the most obstructive and compromised mayors our city has faced.
Brock and Evolve Houston/CenterPoint
Whitmire’s appointment of Elizabeth Brock as METRO board chair is one of the most disastrous examples of cronyism in his administration. Brock is the Vice President of CenterPoint, one of Whitmire’s biggest donors. Whitmire appointed her to bring a “customer-first” mindset to METRO. However, not too long after her appointment she, along with the METRO board, turned down almost $1 billion in federal funding for the University Corridor. She did not consult the public on this before axing the project; during a meeting where there was overwhelming opposition to turning down funding for the University Corridor, she only acknowledged one person who was against the University Corridor. Out of all the native Houstonians clamoring for that project, she called the single one against it an “actual resident” of the city. This does not put customers first, as she’s sidelined anyone who disagrees with her, a play commonly used by Whitmire. Recently, METRO has been increasing funding for their rideshare programs, starting a pilot partner project with Evolve Houston, an organization Brock founded. It’s clear that Brock’s appointment is a favor to a longtime donor with a total disregard for running our public transit effectively.
Randy Macci and HPW
Another crony of Whitmire is Randy Macchi, the COO of Houston Public Works. During the appointment process Whitmire wanted to remove the rule that required the COO to be an engineer. This rule was removed despite warnings from several engineer group. Macchi has zero experience as an engineer – he is an attorney and “lifestyle coach,” a professional background that hasn’t yielded the expertise necessary to make critical decisions about the operations of Houston Public Works.
McFoy is unfit to be the city engineer
Even recently, Whitmire appointed Oluwole “O.J.” McFoy to be the city engineer. McFoy has been mired in controversies, as he was previously the leader of the Buffalo Water Board. The board under his leadership was involved in a class-action lawsuit for failing to fluoridate Buffalo’s water for 9 years. In addition, the board was accused of violating the Opening Meeting Law through limiting access to a public meeting in September and not posting meeting minutes online.
Whitmire appoints people not for their qualifications, but for their loyalty. This is a dangerous practice for our city and will place our city’s services at risk. In many cases, he pushes out those who disagree with him and replaces them with yes-men, as we’ve seen with the Montrose TIRZ Board and Houston Sports Authority. We cannot have a mayor that is more invested in loyalty than qualifications.
Appointing yes-men and unqualified people to run critical departments
a. Rancy Macchi, a lifestyle coach and host of a Disney podcast was only allowed
to head Public Works after the Mayor and Council voted to allow non
engineers to take the position. This decision received national attention in
both the news and the American Council of Engineering Companies and the
Petition for the Recall of John Whitmire, City of Houston Mayor
American Society of Civil Engineers wrote Whitmire disapproving of the
hiring choices and emphasizing the importance of engineering expertise for
this position.
b. Whitmire appointed his own donor to chair Houston First.
c. Elizabeth Brock was appointed the head of METRO after leaving a non-profit
that lobbied the use of EVs and microtransit in the city. MetroNEXT was then
axed and soon after the city rolled out glorified ev golf carts with no AC as an
actual solution to transport needs in this city.
d. Mary Benton is the mouth-piece for Whitmire’s administration and has
repeatedly lied or misrepresented facts to make Whitmire look better.
e. Whitmire replaced the LGBTQ+ advisory board because they disagreed with
him. The people currently on the board are those who Whitmire can rely on
for no pushback.
f. Whitmire admitted through text that the new fire chief, Thomas Muñoz, was
someone he could rely on to agree with him and his messaging.
g. The Montrose Board was almost entirely replaced by Whitmire after he got
pushback from the previous board over the proposed redesign for the street.
His new appointees have shown to be completely on board with the Mayor’s
vision.
h. This probably could be a separate category, but Whitmire attended a paid
access only fundraiser for Republican Congressman, Dan Crenshaw, who is on
record voting for policy that directly harms Houstonians. Frankly, it was a
slap in the face to the city and left many feeling betrayed by the mayor
Recall for Houston 