After being fired earlier this year, Barbie Robinson, the former executive director of Harris County Public Health, has now been charged with felony misuse of public information. According to Click2Houston, Robinson is accused of participating in a bid-rigging conspiracy that favors International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). The former director, who has not been arrested, is charged with helping IBM obtain financial interest by promoting sole-source contracts and providing non-public information.
Email exchanges that imply Robinson may have provided IBM an unfair competitive advantage during her tenure in Sonoma County, California, and later in Harris County, form the basis of the accusations, according to Click2Houston. Her connection to IBM began during her time in Sonoma County, and emails discovered during Harris County’s investigation suggested possible previous collaboration over a public contract in Houston.
At a news briefing today, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg will go into depth about the charges. Judge Lina Hidalgo of Harris County responded to the allegations by criticizing DA Ogg’s efforts to pursue the case. “Kim Ogg wrongly accused my former employees of the same offense as her attack on Barbie Robinson. According to Click2Houston, Hidalgo said, “There is nothing to show for it three years later, because as we’ve said, they did absolutely nothing wrong and her accusations are rife with falsehoods.” She went on to say that Ogg is using her position as a weapon against rivals like Robinson.
Commissioner Tom Ramsey has called for a comprehensive examination of the health department’s contracts as a result of the probe, which has further complicated matters. He expressed dissatisfaction with the distribution of monies, namely with relation to ACCESS Harris, a program that cost $25 million yet seemed to benefit just a small number of people. Ramsey stated, “Now we have a whole new element to this ACCESS Harris and IBM contract, and I hope we get to the bottom of this,” in a statement that Click2Houston emphasized. Court dockets offer a case roadmap, highlighting a sequence of exchanges between Robinson and IBM staff that carefully planned the procurement process to IBM’s benefit.
In the meantime, ABC13 provides background information, revealing that Robinson’s August termination was prompted by an unrelated investigation that was made public following a Houston Chronicle article that revealed dubious connections between Robinson and a California for-profit company she had previously worked with. Shortly after, she was officially fired, which further muddied the picture of openness and oversight in Harris County’s public operations.
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