[Watchdogs] Fuelberg: Hiring brother was “poor judgment” [Llano County Journal]

Thu Dec 9 12:53:38 CST 2010

Very good suggestion, Clyde.

And maybe he did not know or remember that PEC money was being used to pay his brother because that information was lost when he destroyed all that computer data in preparation for the Navigant investigation.

Carlos Higgins
Austin, TX
512 258 3564 CarlosTX at sbcglobal.net

--- On Thu, 12/9/10, Clyde Doyal <clydedoyal at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

From: Clyde Doyal <clydedoyal at sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: [Watchdogs] Fuelberg: Hiring brother was “poor judgment” [Llano County Journal]
To: "Carlos Higgins" <carlostx at sbcglobal.net>, "Watchdogs" <watchdogs at pec4u.org>, "Milton Hawkins" <milton.hawkins at gmail.com>
Date: Thursday, December 9, 2010, 12:43 PM

Maybe he should have testified that he did not know that Curtis was his brother.  Makes about as much sense as some of his other testimony. Clyde Doyal

From: Carlos Higgins <carlostx at sbcglobal.net>
To: Watchdogs <watchdogs at pec4u.org>; Milton Hawkins <milton.hawkins at gmail.com>
Sent: Thu, December 9, 2010 11:56:52 AM
Subject: Re: [Watchdogs] Fuelberg: Hiring brother was “poor judgment” [Llano County Journal]

I suppose hiring your own brother with PEC money and laundering the money through a law firm in order to to deceive the co-op member/owners because the hiring is such an obvious conflict of interest is indeed a mistake in judgment - much like it is a mistake in judgment to rob a 7-11.

Does the claim that it was merely a mistake in judgment wash away the fiduciary obligation Fuelberg had to spend our PEC money in our best interests rather than in his family's best interests, and his fiduciary obligation to avoid conflicts of interest that benefit him and his family to our detriment?  I think not.

Carlos Higgins
Austin, TX
512 258 3564 CarlosTX at sbcglobal.net

--- On Thu, 12/9/10, Milton Hawkins <milton.hawkins at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Milton Hawkins <milton.hawkins at gmail.com>
Subject: [Watchdogs] Fuelberg: Hiring brother was “poor judgment” [Llano County Journal]
To: "Watchdogs" <watchdogs at pec4u.org>
Date: Thursday, December 9, 2010, 9:02 AM

- Llano County Journal - http://llanocj.com -

Fuelberg: Hiring brother was “poor judgment”
Posted By miles.smith On December 8, 2010 @ 9:24 pm In News | 

FREDERICKSBURG – Bennie Fuelberg’s legal team called the defendant as its final witness Wednesday afternoon in the Gillespie County Courthouse, where the former general manager of Pedernales Electric Cooperative is standing trial on charges of first degree theft and misappropriation of funds and second degree money laundering.
Fuelberg is accused of funneling more than $700,000 from PEC coffers to his brother, lobbyist Curtis Fuelberg, and William Price, son of former PEC board member E.B. Price, through an arrangement with Clark, Thomas & Winters, an Austin law firm that worked with the co-op.
The former PEC general manager spent most of Wednesday’s proceedings on the stand after being called as a witness by defense attorney Chris Gunter.
Fuelberg testified that he arranged for Clark, Thomas & Winters to hire his brother as a lobbyist and legislative liaison in 1997, raising the co-op’s monthly bill from the firm by $5,000. The firm, at Fuelberg’s recommendation, later added Price to its payroll for $2,000 per month, he said.
The former GM also admitted to having approved the arrangements without the OK of PEC board members.
However, Fuelberg said he had a legitimate purpose in hiring his brother – he didn’t feel the firm was being sufficiently represented in legislative matters, and was at the time concerned about a deregulation bill that would have cost the co-op as much as $15 million per year.
“Curtis was our eyes and ears, and kept us informed about political events,” Fuelberg testified.
Fuelberg testified that he regretted arranging the hiring of his brother and Price, and said he felt at the time that he believed he didn’t need to bring the matter before the board.
“I caused myself and my family a lot of pain,” Fuelberg said. “It was poor judgment on my part in not telling the board.”
However, when asked if he felt he committed a crime in doing so, the defendant replied, “I absolutely do not.”
During a nearly three-hour cross examination, Prosecutor Eric Nichols questioned Fuelberg’s decision to work with Price, who was paid by Clark, Thomas & Winters to act as a consultant for co-op matters.
“Would you say that if Bill Price did no work for the PEC, then they paid him for nothing?” Nichols asked.
“As far as I’m concerned, that’s a hypothetical,” Fuelberg replied, “I want to be sure what I’m agreeing to. If I’m agreeing to your hypothetical, then I would say he was paid for nothing.”
Nichols also called into questioning invoices from Clark, Thomas & Winters on which Fuelberg had approved. While the invoices, which included billing for work performed by Curtis Fuelberg, said they were for “legal services,” Curtis Fuelberg wasn’t an attorney.
“Mr. Fuelberg, you knew that these invoices were not for legal services,” Nichols said. “ You knew that. Your brother is not a lawyer.”
 Closing arguments will begin Thursday at 8:30 a.m.
Related posts:

Fuelberg’s brother takes stand in money laundering, theft trial [1]
Report castigates co-op executives [2]
Former PEC attorney, GM indicted [3]

Article printed from Llano County Journal: http://llanocj.com
URL to article: http://llanocj.com/news/fuelberg-hiring-brother-was-%e2%80%9cpoor-judgment%e2%80%9d/8194909/
URLs in this post:
[1] Fuelberg’s brother takes stand in money laundering, theft trial: http://llanocj.com/news/fuelberg%e2%80%99s-brother-takes-stand-in-money-laundering-theft-trial/8194855/ 
[2] Report castigates co-op executives: http://llanocj.com/news/report-castigates-co-op-executives/785325/ 
[3] Former PEC attorney, GM indicted: http://llanocj.com/news/former-pec-attorney-gm-indicted/2752507/
Milton Hawkins  milton.hawkins at gmail.com
P.O. Box 1502
Johnson City, Texas 78636-1502
830-868-9075

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