The Texas Ranger Division executed search warrants at the Harris County Administration building on March 11, including the offices of at least two of Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s staff members, as an investigation related to a canceled $11 million vaccine outreach contract is underway.
ABC 13 Eyewitness News reports that the Texas Rangers (a division of the Texas Department of Safety) fanned out across Houston early March 11, seizing electronics from executive offices at Harris County Administration offices as part of an investigation into a COVID-19 contract awarded to a company with alleged ties to county officials. Rangers have reportedly visited other locations.
The Texas Rangers told ABC 13 that they are working with prosecutors and detectives from the Harris County District Attorney’s Office to serve the various search warrants at the DA’s request.
“We would refer additional questions to the DA’s Office,” DPS told ABC 13.
The DA’s office said signed search warrants are legal authorization to search for and seize potential evidence of a crime, and out of fairness for all parties involved, the office has no additional comment at this time.
According to Judge Hidalgo’s county webpage, Harris County is the third-largest in the United States. It has a population of almost 4.5 million people, which is comparable to the whole state of Colorado. Hidalgo and four County Commissioners oversee a $4.3 billion budget that supports county services and organizations.
The warrants come on the heels of a contract awarded to Elevate Strategies LLC, a consulting firm based in Houston. Elevate partners “with teams to access data and analytics to make smarter decisions. We do this via collaboration that’s rooted in action and straight talk,” according to its mission statement.
In June of last year, Elevate Strategies was awarded a multimillion-dollar COVID-19 contract by Harris County. Hidalgo revoked the arrangement months later amid uproar over the hire. However, according to county papers obtained by ABC 13, the county continued to pay over $1.4 million on the contract until it expired.
Elevate Strategies’ contract with Harris County involved reaching out to unvaccinated persons in the county and persuading them to become vaccinated.
The contract included a full year of focused community vaccine outreach, engaging county citizens via calls, texts, social media, face-to-face canvassing, and direct mail, focusing on neighborhoods severely affected by COVID-19.
The Harris County Commissioners approved the contract, 4-1, with Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle voting against the motion.
Republican commissioners Tom Ramsey and Cagle claimed they were hesitant to engage with Elevate Strategies because the firm’s founder, Felicity Pereyra, had worked on Democratic campaigns such as Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and Adrian Garcia’s mayoral campaign. Garcia is now a Precinct 2 commissioner in Harris County.
Despite Hidalgo’s claims that the firm was not chosen for political reasons, Cagle and Ramsey said that the information obtained could be used to promote Democratic politicians in the future.
During the August 24 discussion, reportedly, Cagle requested more information on who follows up with the suppliers who receive millions of dollars in contracts, stating he intended to verify the work was performed to standards.
The $11 million contract with Elevate, according to Daniel Ramos, the county’s budget manager, would not be paid in total upfront but based on the job accomplished, with progress being documented.
According to media reports, Ramsey then highlighted further issues at the September 14 meeting, including the idea that the “value of the contract” was unknown to him and that other parts of the procedure were not shared with him since the contract was signed.
FOX 26 reported that Elevate came in second place in the bidding process for the contract but won after several contractual criteria were waived.
When asked about the arrangement last year, Hidalgo stood firm, saying, “Bring it on because there is nothing here.”
Hidalgo said no part of the contract approval process differed from the court’s standard protocol at the meeting.
The Harris County Commissioners Court unanimously agreed to cancel a nearly $11 million contract with Elevate Strategies on September 14, and the contract was terminated on September 24.
Hidalgo said she called for the cancellation, claiming the issue has become overly politicized.
“I’m not surprised with the things that we’ve seen, in regards to this contract, that have been unfolding since that little blow-up we had in commissioners court,” Cagle told FOX 26.
Neither Hidalgo nor Elevate Strategies have replied to questions posed by The Dallas Express at the time of press.